


Generations 22: Too Close For Comfort

by Fier



Series: Generations [24]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Arguing, F/M, Fights, Fluff, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Married Couple, Married Life, Mild Sexual Content, Pregnancy, Relationship Problems, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:27:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26144866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fier/pseuds/Fier
Summary: Mulder gets a new partner who isn't what she seems. Scully comes to his rescue but he doesn't appreciate it. Mulder gives Skinner a lot of support in personal matters and shows what a wonderful psychologist he can be.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully, Margaret Scully/Walter Skinner
Series: Generations [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857445
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Generations 22. Too Close For Comfort  
>  **Authors:** Macspooky, Eowyn
> 
> We're back.... This all started because Mac and I each had a story idea for the time leading up to the birth of Meg and Walter's child. So we each wrote our story and then merged them together, rewrote the whole thing and we like what we came up with. Hope you will too. Lots of angst lots of comedy. (Now do I ever write anything without some comedy?) There are two other stories in mind for this time frame but heaven knows if we will ever get them written 'cause we have a couple of great ideas as for what to do for sequels to this one. This is the last part of what I call my trilogy. It started with Nothing But Trouble and Baby Trouble followed it and now Too Close For Comfort submitted for your reading pleasure.
> 
> Rated R for that word. Not too many third season spoilers--mostly just hints--like I said in the last story if you've been reading much off the newsgroup they shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Romance--of course it's me--isn't it? No real case just life.
> 
> E-mail me at 72620.3447@compuserve.com or Eowyn7@ix.netcom.com Eowyn CC: macspooky@erols.com if you get a chance. 
> 
> Disclaimer stuff. I don't own Mulder, Scully, Skinner or Meg. I'm just borrowing them to play. Chris Carter is the person who I borrowed them from and I promise to give them back when I'm done, only slightly dented. The other characters you find in this story don't belong to me either. They belong to Macspooky and her most excellent Generation series and are used with her full permission. This is not part of my Fusion series. Please feel free to circulate this or any of my other stories around with only two conditions. One: keep my name and address attached and two: if you want to put it in a zine or something like that let me know because I want a copy. Deal? Okay. On with the show... Completed Feb. 4, 1996

It had been a long and difficult day, and Walter was glad to be lying in bed with his wife, finally having the time to talk to her. He pulled her close, not to make love, but just to feel her presence against his body and rubbed her bulging "tummy" idly. He was still worried about this pregnancy, worried about the baby, worried about her, but everything seemed to be going all right physically. He knew that she had something on her mind though. It was subtle, but he had come to recognize the look she always wore when she was worried about one of her children. She had been pensive all night. 

"What's wrong, Meg?" he asked her finally.

"Nothing, Walt," she replied. There was no way that she could bring up what was really bothering her. It wouldn't be fair. Her family relationships were unbelievably complicated since she had gotten married again, not that she was sorry she had done so.

"Now don't tell me that... one of the kids is on your mind. Worried about Melissa?"

"No. She'll do fine." Melissa was due any moment and really gung ho on natural childbirth. The very thought made Meg chuckle. Lis was in for the surprise of her life.

"Okay, well everything is fine with Bill and Chris and Kevin, so that only leaves one... Dana... now what is it, love?" he asked.

"I can't really talk about it with you, Walt. It wouldn't be fair. I mean... I have to keep your job separate...."

He suspected he knew what was coming. Meg had a very strong sense of ethics, and would never interfere in his job, but her pregnant daughter was also one of his agents working in a very dangerous position, more so than even Meg knew.

"No, Meg, you can't interfere with my job, but you can talk to me about it. I can't always tell you everything either, but that doesn't mean we can't try to communicate."

She sighed. "Okay, it's Dana. You know how she is....stubborn as a mule. From the day she could walk, she always wanted to keep up with the big boys. She never let the fact that she was a girl stop her from doing anything. I'm not saying she wasn't all female, but nothing angered her more than being told that girls couldn't do something..."

"I believe it."

"I worry about her. She'll go chasing all over with Fox until the day she delivers and won't think twice about it. The fact that she is pregnant isn't going to stop Dana Scully from doing anything. She'll have to keep up with the boys, never mind that she is getting big and awkward. I've tried to discuss it with her, but she changes the subject very quickly."

Skinner didn't say anything for a long time. He was well aware of Scully's stubborn nature. He had never told his wife about the time she had pulled her gun on him and wouldn't back off. There was no doubt in his mind that she would have pulled the trigger. Mulder had rescued him that time. Scully had held her own with the ole boys network, and had done it while working with Spooky Mulder, a feat in itself. And she had managed to be respected as well. She was a 5' 2" dynamo, and Margaret was right. Nothing would stop her from following Fox Mulder to hell if need be, except possibly the birth process itself. He had known that this was coming and that he was going to have to do something about it and soon. The truth was that she simply couldn't go out in the field anymore. She was getting too unwieldy and it was simply too dangerous. 

"You don't have to ask, sweetheart," he sighed. "In fact, I know you never would. It's time for Scully's boss to brace himself and chain her to an autopsy bay for the duration. I've put it off for far too long. I'll call her in and talk to her tomorrow."

"Thank you, Walt. I don't envy you the task. I love you, you know."

"I know. I love you too. Now, if I could just figure out how I ended up with Mulder for a son-in-law..." They both chuckled. He did not tell Meg that he was being pushed to assign Mulder a new partner, a very attractive partner by the name of Heather Schmidt who believed in the paranormal and was eager to work with Spooky Mulder. The pressure was coming from somewhere in the White House. He hadn't quite been able to track down it's source yet, but he might be forced to bow to it, at least temporarily. Her credentials were impeccable, but he knew it wasn't going to go over well with his stepdaughter, and he was going to be in the middle of it one way or another.

* * *

Walter Skinner put on his most professional face when Dr. Dana Scully entered his office the next morning.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" she asked formally. She suspected that she knew what was coming and hadn't quite decided how to handle it.

"Yes. Please have a seat," he told her. He put his signature on a report and set down the pen. She looked well. Dana was one of those women that actually glowed from pregnancy. She hadn't gained a lot of weight, but she was big, not surprising for a woman of her small stature. He knew she would have found it easier to stand than to get up out of the chair. That was why he had insisted that she sit. He hoped it would help him make his point.

"I have a new assignment for you, Agent Scully," he informed her. "From now until the time of your maternity leave, you will be in charge of overseeing all autopsies."

"But Sir....." she started.

"No arguments, Agent Scully. You are the best forensic pathologist we have. Dr. Bates is currently out on her maternity leave, and Dr. Sims is still in the hospital recovering from his gallbladder surgery. You are needed here, and here is where you will serve. That is all. You may go."

Dana got to her feet and looked at her boss.

"But I can still do field work, Sir," she protested. "I... what about my partner?"

"I have a meeting with your partner this afternoon. I said, dismissed...."

"But..."

"Would you like a reprimand for insubordination? I can arrange it." Skinner glared at her daring her to say another word. "Make my day, Agent Scully. Go ahead."

"No, Sir... that won't be necessary, Sir," she replied and left the office.

Skinner looked after his daughter, for that was how he was coming to think of her. That had gone too smoothly. She hadn't protested enough. Hmm..... why was he waiting for a shoe, or the other shoe, or whatever, to fall?

* * *

Scully slammed into his office to find Agent Schmidt bent over the file cabinet. The younger woman didn't seem to appreciate her entrance, but then she seemed to spend a lot of time hanging around when she didn't expect Dana to arrive.

"Excuse me, Agent Schmidt," said Dana, "but I need to talk to my partner."

"That's alright. I won't disturb you."

"I need to talk to my partner in private... please..." she replied keeping a careful lid on her temper. Giving her a scathing look, Agent Schmidt left them alone. Quickly, Dana let down her hair, moaning and cursing... insisting that she was still capable of doing field work... how she didn't want to be chained to the office... how she wanted to be with her partner. She didn't mention how difficult it was becoming to get out of the chair in Skinner's office, damn the man anyway for making her sit and making it so obvious. He only thought he had been subtle. 

Mulder sat silently and let her rant until she had calmed herself down... more or less.

"It's about time," he said finally in a gentle tone.

"About time for what?" she demanded.

"About time Skinner used a bit of common sense and put you on office duty. Look at you."

"What's wrong with the way I look?" she demanded. "I'm pregnant. I'm not sick. I can shoot as well as I ever could... I..."

"Enough," he told her holding up his hand. "You look beautiful. You look pregnant. You are carrying around a baby who faintly resembles a basketball, my basketball. It is too dangerous for you in the field right now..."

"But who is going to look after you?" she asked.

"I'm a big boy. I'll just have to look after myself. I'll miss you, but it is only temporary."

"Did you ask Skinner to do this?" she demanded. She was still angry.

"Never said a word," he replied. He didn't add that he had intended to by the end of the week if Skinner hadn't taken the initiative.

"Great... that's just great...." She started to rant again.

Fox got to his feet and walked over to her. "It's alright, sweetheart," he whispered. "I know you are angry and upset, but I will be able to function far more efficiently if I don't have to worry about the baby... okay. It's only for a short time."

Dana nodded and gave in. There was a part of her that knew they were right, but that didn't mean she had to like it. The bottom line was that she didn't trust anyone else to watch Fox Mulder's back. She wouldn't protest too loudly, but she was going to keep her eyes and ears open for sure. As much as she liked Walter Skinner, he wasn't invincible. Someone could be trying to pull the wool over his eyes too, and at this point in time, she had no wish to be a single parent. Mulder watched her leave. She hadn't ranted and raved quite enough. His wife had given in far too easily... hmmm...

* * *

Mulder stood before his boss. "But, Sir, I don't want another partner.... I don't need another partner..." Jeez, Dana was going to be pissed. She had this jealous streak...

"What you want and what you think you need are irrelevant, Agent Mulder. I am assigning Schmidt to work with you. She is open to your ideas, and she even has more field experience than Scully did when she was assigned..."

"That was different...."

"Right... she was sent to spy on you. Schmidt is going to work with you. Her credentials are impeccable. It's only temporary, and the match makes sense. You have your orders." Skinner didn't add that he was glad he wasn't the one that was going to have to inform Scully that Mulder had an absolutely gorgeous new partner. Thank God, some problems were not his. He suspected that Scully had a jealous streak.....

"But...."

"You are dismissed, Agent Mulder. Good day..." Walter Skinner returned to his reports.

"But..."

"Agent Mulder, would you like some sort of a reprimand? I can arrange it you know."

"Quite frankly, Sir, I don't give a damn..." he replied. He didn't want a damn partner.

"Fine... consider yourself on loan to VC for next 6 weeks. You and Tom Colton should get along famously. You'll be working on the same case. Now get the hell out of here before I have you dragged out and get the hell back to work. You can report immediately to VC and inform them about your new partner." Skinner sighed as Mulder left and reached into his desk. Damn Mulder anyway. Now he was going to have to fill out yet more forms. Was that man ever going to learn when to keep his mouth shut? Boy, had he ever been lucky he had been born in a time of no draft. If the army had ever gotten hold of Fox Mulder, he probably would have ended up spending the rest of his life in the stockade for disobeying orders. No discipline. That's what it was. Why couldn't Mulder have just left quietly? Then he could have just made a brief note that Mulder had protested the partner and left it at that. He was sick of being accused of playing favorites. Fox knew it was happening, so why did he insist on putting him in a position where he had to discipline him? Well, if he had gone quietly, he wouldn't have been Mulder. His rogue agent could still manage to be a royal pain in the ass. How come he hadn't gone to work for the DEA or ATF or something? Skinner reached into his drawer and chewed on a couple of aspirin.

* * *

Dana Scully sat uncomfortably in the coach seat of the airplane on the way back from Arizona. Her husband sat on the opposite end of the plane with his partner, her shoulder heavily bandaged and still under mild sedation. She knew she was going to have trouble to deal with when she got home, lot's of it... but she was also confident that she would be able to calm him down and get him to see her point of view once they had arrived back at the house. 

She had been furious when she had found out that Skinner had assigned Heather Schmidt to be Mulder's partner. Part of it, she knew, had been jealousy, but another part of it had been that she had been suspicious of the young agent's record. Her credentials were impeccable. She had graduated at the top of her class from the University of California and the academy at Quantico. She held a degree in psychology. Still, she had been an agent for less than two years and Washington DC had been her third assignment. There was a Presidential Advisor, an uncle, pulling for her from the top. Dana had smelled a rat. 

She and Fox had been sent to a wooded campground outside a small town in Arizona. There was a serial killer on the loose. He went after campers, always physically beautiful young married couples camping in desolate areas. He apparently disabled the man and made him watch while raping and murdering the wife in heinous fashion, and then killed the man as well. One had lived long enough to give a vague description. An undercover couple had been set up with plenty of backup. They had been found dead the following morning. At a loss, the local sheriff's office had finally called in the FBI. Fox had done the profile and then he and Heather had been assigned to the case. If Fox had just kept his mouth shut in Skinner's office so that Skinner hadn't loaned him to VC.... Dana had begged Fox to let her come, just to be there in the background, but he had refused. He had taken her wedding ring for Heather to wear and they had headed out to Arizona as man and wife. He and Heather would be the next bait.

Dana had tried to talk to Skinner to no avail, so she had hunted through records, called supervisors, gone to personnel, and finally called upon an old friend in the field office where Heather had last been assigned.

He had immediately become uncomfortable, but several hours later, Dana had received an e-mail from an office supply store that couldn't be traced to an individual. According to Heather's records, she had received a commendation for bravery on her last case out of that office. In reality, her old friend had explained anonymously, it had always been rumored that it hadn't happened that way, that she had in fact frozen. There would be no proof or no way to check it out. Her former partner had never betrayed her exactly, but in any case had been killed in a car accident shortly after Heather had been reassigned to the DC office.

Dana had literally stormed Skinner's office. It wasn't a lot to go on, but it was a start. Skinner had contacted the field office immediately and had been told that Schmidt and Mulder were already in their persona and out at the isolated camp ground. He had ordered them to send extra backup and had Angela make travel arrangements. He had told Scully that she could take leave and come along, with the understanding that she would remain at the hotel and let him handle it. He had thought she would be easier to control that way. Then, just as he had been ready to leave, he had been called to a meeting at the White House. He placed another call to the field office and told Dana to arrange for a later flight. She had... for him. She had taken her ticket and gone.

What had happened had been a nightmare, something Dana wouldn't soon forget. She had found Fox and Heather alright, but hadn't approached them. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the area. She had hidden herself carefully in some bushes within sight of them, but she had dozed off. She had very nearly missed what she had come for. Suddenly she had heard a moan... Fox's moan... It was low and pained. She sat up and crawled forward on her side, her belly suddenly in her way. In the dim light of dawn, there lay her husband tied and gagged. The killer was over Heather, her clothing ripped but her gun within reach. She made no move to go for it. She was frozen in terror, unable to move.... unable to scream.... Dana thought she saw blood on her shoulder. "I'll stab you in other places... bitch..." 

"Federal Agent.... stop or I'll shoot..." Dana had screamed pulling her weapon. It had been awkward to get to her feet... awkward and slow. The perp had grabbed the gun but had miraculously charged her with a long machete like knife instead of shooting. He was like lightening, the sharp blade aiming directly for her distended belly, a wild creature that seemed barely human in his speed and cunning. Dana fired and fired again. She pumped four rounds into him before he fell, so close the knife had very nearly penetrated her. Fox had watched it all bound and helpless. Then, and only then had the sheriff's men appeared, two young green deputies who had been on the force less than six months. The FBI was no where to be seen. Dana had very calmly stepped over the body of the perp, released her husband and went to check on Heather who had a nasty stab wound to the shoulder. Skinner had arrived with backup and an ambulance. Fox had not spoken a word to either one of them since. He had dictated his report and left it with Skinner who had stayed behind to deal with why the backup had been called. Mulder had gone with Heather to the hospital.

Dana realized now that she should have tried harder to find backup. It had been stupid to go without it. She had allowed her paranoia to mar her judgement and her stubborn independent streak to keep her from asking for help. Skinner had traced the cancellation of backup to DC and then the trail vanished, but she still would have been able to get someone in the Phoenix office to help. Dana had come to realize that as long as she was pregnant, she was going to have to accept help. The fact that she had nodded off on her vigil, and that her ability to rise and react had been so slow, had brought that home to her. She hated the idea, but for the baby's sake.... Why couldn't I have realized this earlier... then maybe Fox wouldn't be so angry, and she wouldn't have to face what she knew was coming when they arrived home. 

When she had killed the perp, she had turned to see the horror on her husband's face and knew that the image of that crazed man attacking her would be with him forever. And now, in his fear and anger, he had, she knew, built an immense wall around his heart. She sighed, he was always so afraid of getting hurt, she could understand it, but she was tired of getting hurt as well. Although she had forgiven him for last Christmas, she hadn't forgotten it... the terrible fight... the treatment she hadn't deserved. It was as though he had to feel guilty every time some joy came into their lives and then he took it out on her. She had a feeling that this was going to be another one of those times and sighed. She suddenly hated his father for what he had done to Fox, and his grandfather as well for the way the family had been destroyed. The cycle of misery had to stop, but she was beginning to wonder if her love for him was enough to overcome it.

* * *

Fox sat with Heather silently. There was some anger that was so intense that it couldn't be expressed in public. He knew that for the rest of his life he would have nightmares about the man with the knife charging his pregnant wife, aiming right for his child and nearly succeeding. He already had enough in his life to have nightmares about. He hadn't needed more. His wonderful life with the woman of his dreams was over. He was never ever ever going to be able to forgive her... or Skinner for that matter... who should have been able to stop her actions. _Damn it he could have called the Phoenix office and had them stop her at the airport._

He thought bitterly about just how perfect his profile had been. The killer had been a Viet Nam vet who had done four tours of infantry duty and lived to tell about it before finally being sent home and hospitalized for post traumatic stress disorder. Early on his first tour of duty, he had married a young Vietnamese girl. They had been out walking one day in an area deemed safe. They had been attacked. The young woman had been raped and murdered before the man's eyes. He had never been the same. He had been released from the mental hospital, had stopped taking his meds and had immediately begun reliving the attack... acting it out over and over again... nearly killing Dana.... nearly killing Heather.

"I'm really sorry about losing your wife's ring and...." Heather started say for the hundredth time.

"Doesn't matter," he replied once again gruffly. Poor girl was devastated by everything that had happened. How could a woman who had been decorated for bravery have frozen like that? The personnel file just didn't match the young woman he had gotten to know on this case. And who the hell had pulled the backup.... The word Cancerman echoed through his mind over and over and over again, but Cancerman had supposedly been neutralized... so who else?

* * *

No sooner did they get in the house than Fox slammed the door and cornered her against the wall. Dana hadn't expected this.... a fight, yes, but not the hate she saw in his eyes.

"I will never.... ever.... ever... forgive you," he hissed. "Never.... do you hear me?"

"But, Fox....."

"Don't but Fox me....." he actually raised his hand to hit her. He could feel it, the smash of his fist across her face, and it felt wonderful, but he backed off before he could do it, barely stopping himself in time.

"You had no right, Dana.... no right...." he yelled angrily hitting the wall near her head instead.

"But you were in danger...." she said quietly not flinching... not allowing herself to. 

"Goddam it, Dana, I'm a f**king trained agent and a big boy. I can look after myself...."

"I found you bound and......" she started to remind him her own temper beginning to flare. "Fox, you can't argue with results..."

"Oh, and you had to play fairy godmother I suppose?" he inquired sarcastically. "Well, I don't want your protection. You put the baby in danger. You didn't give a damn. For months and months and months I listened to you whine.... Fox, I want a baby.... I listened to you beg, Fox put a baby in me... Oh, God, Fox, make me pregnant...."

Dana looked at him wide eyed, his sarcasm brutal... his voice a perfect imitation of how it had been when they had made love.... It hurt... God it hurt. She had always known that this side of him existed. She had seen it in the past, but never like this, oh, God, not like this... 

"Fox, you aren't being...."

"I'm not being nice. I know. I don't want to be nice to you... You aren't always nice either.... there's a cold streak in you... Lucy Householder....." he choked remembering that case, then refocusing his mind, "Jeez, Dana, when I woke up in Martha's Vineyard, the first damn thing I heard was you whining about not being pregnant.... so I make you pregnant, and what do you do... you turn around and nearly get the kid killed and don't even give it a second thought... I could have done without all these complications in my life.... jeez... a jealous whining woman... a miserable mutt, a monstrosity of a house that I never wanted... and a mother to my child who doesn't give a s**t if it lives or dies.... You have choices, Dana. The baby doesn't. If keeping up with the boys was so important to you, you should have had your tubes tied. You are a woman. You have babies, and the choices you have to make are sometimes different, but that's just the hell the way it is.... and I can't stand your goddamed jealousy." He picked up his suitcase.

"Are you leaving, Fox?" she asked overcome by an unnatural calm. He was being a real bastard. He was hurting her worse than if he had hit her. He knew all the buttons to push and in the course of this argument, he hadn't missed one. She had always wanted to keep up with the boys... always... and she had hardened her heart to Lucy... and she was jealous.... but she loved him... No one had ever loved him or stuck by him the way she had.....

"No f**king way. I bought this f**cking house and I'm staying. You can sleep on the goddamed couch... If you have anything to say to me, you can get yourself a lawyer because that is just what I'm going to do... get a lawyer and get custody of my kid so she'll be with someone who cares about whether or not she lives or dies."

* * *

That's what she did, for two long and painful nights. She slept on the couch and nursed her anger and pain. Then finally, unable to to endure his silence any longer, unable to tolerate the withdrawal of his love, she left and checked into a hotel. He hadn't stopped her, hadn't said a word. She had gone and the flu she had felt herself incubating hit her with full force. Lying alone at night, her body aching and feverish, she had thought and thought about his words. He had been mean and cruel, but the problem was that there had been a great deal of truth in what he had said. It wasn't that she hadn't thought of the baby. She had, but all too briefly. She had gone off in a quest to save him, and she had done so, but deep down inside of herself, she knew she had been wrong. The baby could have been killed, and in her love for him, her frenzy of concern for him, and in all honesty, her desire to prove that Dana Scully could do anything, pregnant or not, she had not thought of the child, the innocent person growing in her, hard enough. Fox had been right. She had made a choice when she had opted to become pregnant, a choice only women had to make, and once she had made it, she should have weighed the consequences of subsequent actions all the more carefully. She hadn't. She had viewed the baby as an extension of her body, but it wasn't. It was it's own person, helpless, in need of nurturing and protection, and she had failed to do her job, the job she had undertaken voluntarily. 

On the other hand, a part of her rebelled against this. She was after all highly trained and competent. There was no such thing as complete safety. Even performing autopsies was associated with some danger. She couldn't wrap herself in a plastic bubble. She didn't even have the excuse of saying that it was an unplanned pregnancy. The argument raged on in her mind, and for perhaps the very first time, she found herself hating being a woman until the baby would kick inside her, and she would once again fall in love with the wonder of being able to carry immortality inside herself. It had been something of a miracle that they had all come out of it in one piece, but they had. Why couldn't he just let it go at that? She lay there awake feeling sick and miserable and heart broken, and dragged herself to work each day hoping that he would approach her and want to talk.... hoping that his anger would begin to fade and that they could communicate again, but he didn't. His single mindedness was a wonderful trait in many ways. It gave him the strength and conviction to endure more than any man ought to have to in pursuit of his goals. On the other hand, it didn't always serve him well. He had focused so much on the danger to the baby, that he failed to look beyond it to the moral, ethical and emotional dilemma that the woman he professed to love so much had found herself in. She vacillated between self loathing and growing anger at his single mindedness. The only thing that gave her hope was that she hadn't heard from a lawyer.


	2. Chapter 2

"Agent Mulder is calling, Sir. He would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience." Walter Skinner's assistant Angela informed him.

The Assistant Director of the FBI smiled ruefully to himself. He wondered how often Angela diplomatically rephrased such requests. If Fox Mulder hadn't said that he wanted to see that f**king bastard as soon as possible Walter Skinner didn't know Mulder. And Walter Skinner knew Mulder, too well for either of their comfort. "Tell Agent Mulder that I'm very booked up with meetings today but that if he can come this evening at seven I'll wait for him." _If I'm going to get in a knock down drag out it might as well be after hours when no one can see._

The intercom was silent for a few minutes. Skinner imagined that he could hear Angela placating Fox. _Damn it did the man want to totally end his career by punching out his boss with everyone around. Shit, have a little brains, Mulder._

"Agent Mulder says that that will be acceptable sir." Angela informed him. He could hear the sympathy in her voice. He didn't like putting her in the middle but his next meeting with Fox had to be after hours with no witnesses. He sighed and got down to the mountain of paper work on his desk. He hadn't lied to Mulder, he was swamped with meetings today and no time to prepare for them. Ruthlessly he pushed thoughts of the upcoming confrontation out of his mind.

* * *

"Wait here, Mr. Christiansen, I'll see if Director Skinner has time to see you." Angela Mastrangelo said to the rather nervous young man in Skinner's outer office.

She knocked on the door and entered when the AD called come in. He looked up at her impatiently. She knew he was under a lot of stress. First the mess in Arizona, then new budget hearings, and now a meeting with Fox Mulder to look forward to tonight. _Nothing ever runs smoothly._ Angela thought to herself. _Someone must have cursed both Skinner and Mulder with the old Chinese curse may you live in interesting times._

"Sir, Mr. Christiansen, Dr. Scully's assistant, would like a few minutes of your time."

"I really don't have time right now. Tell him to schedule something later in the week."

"Sir, I think you should see him." Skinner looked up at her tone of voice, she rarely contradicted him and he trusted her judgement. 

"All right, show him in."

She opened the door and allowed the lab assistant to enter.

When Mr. Christiansen told Assistant Director Skinner his problem the AD was not a happy man. 

As he showed the young man to the door of his office ten minutes later he listened to him conclude.

"Sir, I hope I haven't gotten Dr. Scully in trouble but I thought you should know. She is far too sick to work with this flu bug and it's affecting her performance. I realize that we have way too many people out but maybe we should request help from some other offices until the flu passes."

"Thank you, for informing me of the situation. I'll see if I can get some help from the New York or Philly offices. I think this bug hit them last month so their people should be immune. We loaned them a few agents so I'll call in the favor." Skinner saw the concerned look on the young man's face and decided to unbend just a little. "Don't worry about Agent Scully, Christiansen, I'll make sure she gets some rest." After the young man had left he turned to his assistant.

"Thank you, Angela. You were right I did need to talk to him. Could you tell Agent Scully that I want to see her now."

* * *

Half an hour later Special Agent Dana Scully walked into the AD's outer office. She felt like hell and from the last look in the rest room mirror she looked like hell as well. _God I just want to go home._ Clamping down on that thought, she didn't want to start crying in the AD's office, she faced Angela and forced down the wave of nausea that assailed her. "Skinner, wanted to see me."

Angela fought down her mothering instincts. She was well aware that Agent Scully wouldn't appreciate them, 

"Oh, before I forget, in case you need to contact me after hours here's where I'll be staying." Dana wrote down the address and phone number of a local DC hotel. 

Angela took it without comment and then buzzed Skinner. "Agent Scully is here to see you, Sir." She turned to Dana. "He'll see you now. Go right in."

Skinner finished signing off on the report he was reading and looked up as Dana Scully walked into the room. He had to fight the urge not to get up and help her to the chair. Her assistant had not been exaggerating when he said she was sick. _God she looked better when she was dying in the hospital._

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Dana tried to collect herself.

"Agent Scully, you are obviously ill and need to take sick leave."

"That isn't your concern, Sir."

"On the contrary, when it begins to affect your job performance it very much becomes my concern."

"It hasn't..."

"I met with Agent Christiansen a little under an hour ago and he described coming in and finding the blood and tissue samples from the Baker autopsy exposed on the counter and you returning from throwing up to finish your tests." As the reality of what she had done struck Dana she turned whiter. He hadn't thought that possible and found himself hoping the she didn't faint. Considering the mood Mulder was all ready in his wife fainting in the AD's office would be the coup de gras. 

"Agent Scully, not only could the samples have been contaminated but they could have been tampered with as well. While we both know that that is unlikely, think of what the defense could have made of it if this case goes to trial. The chain of evidence would have been broken and at that late of a date it is unlikely that retesting would be allowed even if the body was still available and in a preserved enough state. A serial killer might well have walked. As it is Agent Christiansen redid the tests and signed off on the report so that the chain is again intact."

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't realize."

"Of course you didn't, Scully. My god, woman, you are very ill and shouldn't be working. It was irresponsible and unprofessional of you to try to do so, I don't care how understaffed we are. I expected better of you, Agent Scully. As of right now you are relieved of duty for the next four days. I want no arguments. Go home and get some rest."

Dana fought not to cry. The only home she had to go to now was that awful barren hotel room, but she wouldn't tell Skinner that. She nodded and struggled up. "Will there be any thing else?"

"Scully. Don't try to push yourself so hard. You have nothing to prove, you're one of my top agents. Being pregnant in no way changes that. When Mulder broke his leg, did that make him any lesser of an agent? No, of course not. Agents get sick or have physical conditions arise that restrict them temporarily it doesn't change who they are or the quality of their work. Hell, I spent three days at home in bed with this two weeks ago. I'm still playing catch up but it's ridiculous and irresponsible to try to work when you're this sick." Walter saw no point in mentioning that Meg had threatened to handcuff him to the bed if he tried to go in to work. Normally he wouldn't have let even her bully him like that but he had felt so bad that he was afraid that if they got into a tussle she'd win. He did not want the humiliation of losing a struggle with his petite, pregnant wife. 

He looked at Dana trying to reach his erstwhile daughter. She wouldn't look at him. "Very well, Scully, dismissed. Oh. This incident won't go on your record. Your assistant was very loyal and said that he would deny everything if pushed. He was just afraid that another mistake would be made that he didn't catch and that it would hurt your record. But if I ever have to deal with a situation like this again it will go on your record. Is that clear."

She nodded and left. Very proud of herself for managing not to cry or throw up. That would be all she'd need. If you looked hard you could still see the blood stain from her miscarriage in the carpet, she did not want to add puke to the AD's rug.

* * *

Walter Skinner sighed and ran his hand through what little hair he possessed. Sometimes he conceded that his bosses had a point about him supervising his step-daughter. That had been very hard to do. He looked up at a knock on his door and said, "Come in." _Shit. What now. I've got too much to do with all these interruptions._

Angela came in and shut the door. She looked reluctant. _Damn, what now?_ he thought. He waited and the longer he waited the worse he felt. When his assistant was this reluctant to discuss something it could only mean trouble. She had a way of knowing things that astonished even him. _Must have been all that practice she got raising five children._

"Sir, I thought you should know... I mean... I know it isn't really any of my business but..."

"Oh god, Angela, stab it to the heart and get it over the suspense is killing me."

"Agent Scully gave me the address of a hotel where _she_ is staying, sir. In case we needed to reach her for anything."

"I see. Please give me a copy of the address and phone number and then make note of the fact for future reference. Did she indicate how long this would be?"

"No. She didn't. I got the impression that the length of her stay had not been determined." Angela turned and started to leave. 

She paused in the open doorway at the sound of Skinner's voice. "Thank you for telling me. I'll see what I can do." His assistant nodded and left. _Well I guess I should have seen it coming._ He sat back and sighed trying to decide what to do about the situation. _Maybe it would be best to leave well enough alone. It really isn't the Assistant Director's business._

* * *

Two hours later Walter Skinner stood outside the hotel door of his step daughter's room. He'd been arguing with himself for the entire time. This was not his business. She wouldn't appreciate his interference. He had too much work to do. If any of his bosses found out. But in the end it all had come to naught. Walter realized that he wasn't the unfeeling hard-ass that he'd thought he was, he couldn't get Dana Scully's image out of his mind. He had to make sure that she was all right. So he cancled a couple of meetings and headed over to her hotel. Finally he knocked.

It seemed to take forever but just as he was about to knock again the door opened. "Sir?"

"May I come in, Dana?"

She didn't look too pleased but she nodded and stepped aside to let him enter. "What can I... Excuse me." Running to the restroom she fell to the floor and dry heaved into the toilet. There was precious little left in her stomach to come up. Finally the nausea pill and the swallow of water to wash it down came up and she felt some relief. As she started to get up she found Walter's arms around her lifting her up and carrying her to the bed. He then got her a wet wash cloth and a glass of ice water. 

At her wry look he explained. "I had lots of practice with your mom a few months ago. I take it you can't keep anything down." At her nod of yes, he asked. "Have you talked to Amy?"

"No it's just the flu."

"Flu or not you can't afford to get dehydrated when you're pregnant. I'm going to call her." 

She started to protest but stopped at the look on his face. He was right. Fox wouldn't have let her go this long without calling her OB, Amy. At the thought of her husband tears started to roll down her face. Walter was on the phone with Amy's nurse giving her the details. Every now and then he would shoot a question at her and then communicate her answers to the person on the other end of the phone. "Good... yes... that's fine. I'll pick up the prescription in half an hour. Yes, thank you very much." 

He turned to her and explained, "Amy is going to call in a prescription for the nausea to the pharmacy for some medicine to stop the throwing up." As she started to protest he held up his hand for her to allow him to continue. "It is much more risky for you to continue to throw up and risk all the side effects of dehydration including early labor than to take this medicine. You're going to have to trust your doctor on this, Dana."

"It's not just that, Sir. I can't keep anything down."

He smiled. "She's aware of that and I get the impression that this isn't designed to be taken orally." He kept himself from chuckling as she rolled her eyes. Taking the wash cloth from her he went into the bathroom to rinse it out and get more cool water. Returning he sat on the bed and gently washed her face before continuing.

"I take it Fox is being difficult?"

"He won't talk to me, he glares at me and looks like he hates me. I couldn't take it anymore so I moved out. Why won't he understand that I couldn't let him be killed. I had to try and do something to stop it."

"You should have gotten back up. Every agent needs backup and a pregnant one even more so."

"I know that now. I was too focused on Fox and the danger he was in and didn't think enough about the baby. I've tried to tell him that and that I've learned my lesson but he won't listen, he just shuts me out. Today... the autopsy... I wasn't doing it to prove I could keep up. I just couldn't bear the thought of being here alone. I honestly didn't realize that it would affect my work. I wasn't this sick when I left for work this morning it's gotten worse as the day's progressed. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Her voice broke and tears started to flow.

Skinner put the wash cloth down and took her in his arms and rocked her back and forth. "It's all right, little one, shhh... it's all right." Walter used the term of endearment he used on his niece when she cried. "Shhh... It'll be all right. You know Fox, it'll take him awhile to come around." He sat and rocked her until he realized that her breathing had evened out and she was asleep. Gently laying her down he brushed the hair out of her face and got up. He spotted the room key on the nightstand and grabbed it before leaving to pick up her prescription and some food and drinks for her to have when she felt better.

He ran by his co-op to pick up a cooler, thankful that it was in storage in the basement so that he didn't have to tell Meg what was going on just yet. _Don't want to worry her._ Then a quick trip to the grocery store for some crackers and a variety of juices for her to eat and drink when she started feeling better. Finally he stopped by the drug store and picked up the prescription.

Knocking softly he let himself into the room hoping to find her still asleep in bed. Instead she was throwing up in the bathroom again. When she finished he helped her into bed and handed her the prescription. "Promise me that you will take it when I leave."

She looked at him and the prescription in disgust but nodded yes. 

"Dana, why don't you come and stay with your mother and me. We've got the room and you really should have someone taking care of you."

"No, I don't want to worry mom like that and she's in no condition to take care of me."

"She's doing a lot better than you are, Scully, and I won't keep secrets from her so she is going to find out about this. She's already been exposed through me."

"No. Absolutely not. I don't expect you to keep this from her but you don't have to go into all the gory details. Besides if she didn't catch it from you there is no sense risking exposing her again. I'll be all right and if I need anything I promise to call. Okay?"

"I don't like this. Not one bit." He gave her his best cold Skinner stare. She only smiled up at him. He guessed he shouldn't be surprised that it didn't work, _you can't hold her in your arms one minute comforting her and then try to intimidate her the next, the look wasn't going to work. One last try._ "Dana, your mom and I love you very much and we don't want to see you go through this alone." _There he'd said it._

Dana fought back the tears. _He was so sweet._ "If it gets to be too much then I'll call but right now I'm probably going to spend the next twenty-four hours sleeping. I can do that here as well as I can at your place."

"You are so damn stubborn. Just like your mom. All right, but be warned I won't let this go on indefinitely. I picked up some bread and crackers for when your appetite comes back along with plenty of juices to drink. I'm going to call down to the desk and have a spare key brought up to you because I'm taking this one so that I can check on you. I'll be back later tonight and then again in the morning. No argument? Good. I'll see you in a few hours."

After he left she took her medicine and fell asleep thinking how lucky her mom was to have found such a wonderful caring man. So much like her Fox....


	3. Chapter 3

Walter Skinner paced back and forth in his office. Six forty. Twenty minutes to go. He was glad that the meeting had ended early, it had given him time to get some food in him. Unfortunately it also gave him time to think. Skinner figured if he made it through the next hour without a black eye, sore jaw or gut that it would take a miracle. He wondered if Fox would even bother to say anything first. _Probably not. More likely just come in swinging._

He was trying to remain calm, not get emotional but he was having trouble. He'd spent the day... hell make that the whole week, living on Malox. It was at times like this that he figured he had his twenty in and maybe he should give it up and retire. _Hell if I was going to do that I should have just taken off after Fox with Dana and saved us all the aggravation._ His other voice told himself, _that if you take either option just sign Mulder's termination papers or death certificate. He wouldn't stand a chance._

And here was the root of the problem Walter Skinner was running interference for Mulder and it was getting harder by the month. The closer Mulder got the worse it became. _Why the hell don't I quit and let him handle it. You know the answers to that you just won't admit it._ The first answer was easy, he believed in what Fox was doing. The human experimentation had to stop and Mulder was stopping it, one damn project at a time but he was making a dent. Also, his probing was probably making others so nervous that they thought twice before starting any new experiments. There were at least half a dozen projects that had either major set backs or were totally stopped because of Mulder's work. And that was just fine with Walter Skinner. The second answer to why he didn't quit had to do with personal reasons and those he preferred to ignore. _Damn it, Fox, why won't you try to understand?_

At first he had watched from a distance as Blevins had gone after Mulder puzzled by the man's enmity for the agent. He'd remembered Fox Mulder from the academy. Hell, even before that from the recruitment interview. Skinner had been one of the interviewers and he had really liked Fox Mulder. Ignoring his credentials, which were top notch, he liked the young man and his outrageous sense of humor. The interview had gone normally, meaning boringly. Walter was bored, Mulder was bored and Walter got careless, slipped and cracked a rather sarcastic comment about one of the other interviewers. Walter looked up hoping that the interviewee hadn't noticed, the comment had after all been subtle and Skinner had hoped that the young man would have missed it, but Mulder's eyes were suddenly alive with amusement, a half smile was on his lips. _Oops._ Walter had thought to himself but made no comment. The tone of the interview had changed, however, Mulder relaxed and started, well not exactly cracking jokes but he had a subtle wicked wit and he had let it surface. Fox's final crack as he went out the door had been that one of his goals while at the bureau would be to find Elvis. Walter must have looked stunned. Mulder had delivered the line with a strait face and voice but when Skinner had looked up in shock he'd seen that wicked grin on the young man as he went out the door. It had taken Walter five minutes to stop laughing, he had recommended Mulder, but a voice at the back of his mind had told him, even then, that the naive young man would not have an easy time in the bureau. He was too much of a maverick.

Mulder had never really fit in. He was way too brilliant for his own good and what he could do with a profile had scared the shit out of most of the agents he worked with and for. But as Skinner had watched from a distance he had seen the toll that profiling serial killers was taking on the sensitive young man. Perhaps if he'd made real friends easier, but he was too shy for that. Walter Skinner had been trying to figure out a way to head off Mulder's burnout when Mulder found his own. The X-Files. They challenged and fascinated him. It hadn't taken too long for those in power to realize that one of the areas Fox Mulder was interested in was the possible existence of extra-terrestrial biological entities, EBEs, most including Skinner thought he was crazy. Most, not including Skinner, thought that that meant that all of his work was suspect, but not Walter. Walter figured it was part and parcel of his agent's openness to extreme possibilities that he accepted the possible existence of EBEs. It was that very openness that allowed Mulder to solve cases that no one else could, to come up with solutions that most would consider crazy but in the end proved correct. 

What Skinner couldn't understand was a certain element in the Bureau that wanted to get him out. It hadn't made sense to him. So what if Agent Mulder was opened to extreme possibilities, had some crazy ideas, or did things his own way on occasion. He never risked lives unnecessarily, cases were being solved and people saved. There were a lot worse rogue agents in the AD's opinion. Agents who risked civilian lives unnecessarily, agents who were more interested in who got the credit for solving a case than seeing a serial killer behind bars and yet these agents actions were often ignored or let slide with only warnings. True, Mulder tended to be tactless but still even with everything combined it didn't make sense that so much attention was being paid to him and his work by people in power, not only in the Bureau but in other government organizations as well.

And then there came Dr. Dana Katherine Scully. _Boy that was a major miscalculation on the part of those trying to discredit Fox Mulder's work._ On paper it had looked like the worst match up in history. Brilliant scientist teamed with radical believer. They should have been at each other's throats by the end of the first case. That had been the plan, from what Skinner could make out, but here the higher ups had goofed. They had missed the common bond underlying the motivations of both agents. Both were truth and justice seekers. Truth supported by fact drove both Mulder and Scully and although they didn't always agree they both respected the other's search and recognized a kindred soul. Skinner had signed her transfer papers into the X-files and when pressured from above had refused to transfer her out. He'd been a marine and knew how to hide behind SOP's, standard operating procedures, when he needed to. Neither agent had requested reassignment, their work was exceptional, a solve rate well above most teams in the bureau, forget about how astronomically higher it was for X-file cases. He was not about to break up a good team. 

It was this pressure that had begun to bother him the most, it made him wonder if maybe Mulder wasn't so crazy after all and that had been a very scary thought for Assistant Director Walter Skinner. It was fine to ignore many of Agent Mulder's theories as being silly, or farfetched but if they were so silly and ridiculous why were certain forces in the government so determined to stop his work. At one point he had been ordered to shut down the X-files after Mulder had been involved in a case that he claimed involved injecting alien DNA into humans. What a ridiculous theory Skinner had thought. Mulder's way over the edge but if it was so ridiculous why was Mulder injured, and several people dead. Skinner hadn't believed for a minute in alien DNA but he also wasn't a gullible fool either and didn't believe all the deaths surrounding the case were coincidental. Damn it, a woman scientist and her family had died in a car crash right after she had done some research work for agent Scully. It may look like an accident but he didn't believe for one moment that it was. Still orders w ere orders and he had no proof so he shut Mulder down and continued to watch.

Scully went back to Quantico and Mulder got assigned grunt work that a bloody secretary could have done better. _Talk about wasted resources. VCS's top analyst assigned to wire tap duty. A PhD none the less. Shit._ Mulder put up with it for awhile, longer than Skinner had figured that he would, but then suddenly he had disappeared. Off on another UFO chase. The AD had read the riot act to him then, he was so mad at him that he had been ready to can him on the spot. Risking everything for another stupid alien hunt, so what if he was being under utilized that was no justification for walking out on an assignment for a whim. Any other agent would have cowered in his shoes and said nothing but not Fox Mulder. 

That was the funny thing about Mulder, Walter could tell that his agent felt regret for walking out on his assignment for letting him, Skinner, down. Not that he wouldn't do it again. His regret was that in his quest for the truth he had hurt the AD's opinion of him. For some strange reason Skinner had noted that it mattered to Mulder what he thought of him. Had from the beginning, it beat the hell out of him why. Mulder was a maverick who barely tolerated authority, Skinner included, but while the agent showed contempt for most of the others over him he didn't have that same contempt for Skinner. He would push him to the limits but he never insulted him or his intelligence, never treated him with less than respect. None of Mulder's other supervisors could make the same claim. To some, especially those who had gotten their jobs more by political savvy than by investigative skills he had been down right contemptuous. The only reason he was tolerated was because they needed his brilliance, his deductive abilities. _Heaven knew they had little enough of their own._ Skinner thought sarcastically. So when the AD had finished censoring him Fox had talked back. 

Mulder accepted responsibility for his actions, there had been no excuses, Skinner admired that in a man, he had simply stated that he was surprised that anyone missed him. Walter had fought a smile on that one and wondered how much Fox knew or had heard. The truth was they hadn't missed him, not for hours. Mulder had also been right about the fact that he had gathered enough evidence days ago for a case to have been made. Even Skinner couldn't figure why they had just let him sit. Still, he was about to tell his agent that that was irrelevant when Mulder had hit him between the eyes with his last bit of news. The government had bugged his phone and established an illegal surveillance. One look at that smoking bastard, who by this time he was coming to thoroughly dislike, had told him that Mulder's accusations were true. _What the hell am I in the middle of?_ Walter Skinner had thought to himself. _Mulder's nuts on this UFO stuff. But if he's so crazy why in god's name are they bugging him? And breaking the law to do it._

That day had been a turning point for Skinner. He didn't know what Fox Mulder was on to but he began to believe that he was on to something. They were not going to get away with bugging one of his agents and then getting rid of that agent. Assistant Director Walter Skinner had kicked that smoking bastard out and sent Mulder back to the wire tap. That was enough punishment as far as he was concerned. The AD had been surprised by Mulder's reaction to watching him throw Cancerman out. There was no look of triumph just calm quiet acceptance of the fact that Skinner would, when presented with the facts, back him up. Maybe that's why Mulder respected him because he recognized that down deep they were a lot alike. Both wanted to help people and both were more interested in the truth than lies. Walter was a by the book man but Fox seemed to respect that because the motives were pure. At least that's what Walter had come to believe, Mulder wasn't talking on the subject.

From that point on their relationship had changed. Their next encounter had involved that thing in the New Jersey sewer. He smiled at the memory. Mulder had come blazing in furious at the assignment, right into the middle of a meeting, and Skinner had let him. He could tell from the gleam in Fox's eye that he appreciated how the AD had allowed him make an ass of himself in front of an audience. But even with an audience he hadn't backed down, toned it down a bit maybe, but he had stuck to his point. Mulder had been wrong, it was precisely the type of case that he was best at and once he got over his anger he was quick to spot the fact and catch the culprit at some risk to his own life in the process.

Then had come the disappearance of Scully. Skinner had been aware that the two were still working together whenever possible. Hell, the expense reports alone were a dead giveaway, the powers that be had given the AD grief about the matter but he again hid behind SOP's. A special agent was allowed to call for assistance whenever he felt it was needed and the people at Quantico were there for precisely that reason. Then she had been taken and Mulder was shouting conspiracy. By this time Skinner could no longer discount Mulder's paranoia. Somebody was out to get him and discredit his work. He'd done the best he could for Mulder and when the agent came up with that ridiculous idea about Krycek, Skinner had been ready to investigate. 

It was Skinner's turn to be shocked. Krycek had disappeared and research into his background showed that he was a plant. The AD was so mad that he quit giving a damn about what the higher ups wanted. He couldn't give Mulder back Dana Scully but he could give him a reason to keep going and at the same time send a message to those in power that Mulder was still not alone. He reopened the X-files and placed it under the direct supervision of his office. If they were going to come after his agents they were going to have to come through him to do it. He backed up his own. 

Dana's return had changed both his and Fox's lives. Because of it he had met Margaret Scully. He owed Mulder a lot on that alone. Again it was his agent's stubbornness and lack of tact that had led to the meeting.

The doctor in charge of Scully's case had called to complain about Agent Mulder's behavior. He intimated that Mulder was causing problems for the family. Skinner couldn't allow that if it was true. Fox wouldn't deliberately set out to hurt Scully's family but in his zeal for revenge and justice he might be blinded from realizing the pain he was causing. So Skinner had called him in and laid down the law. Mulder had barely heard so Walter had decided to find out how the Scully family felt before taking stronger action against Mulder. 

He had gone to the hospital and into Scully's room. Her pale inanimate face accused him. Guilt overwhelmed him. He had always liked Dana Scully, she had a sharp intelligence, courage, determination and dedication to the truth that were rare in most agents. FBI agents were bright but most placed career advancement over and above all else. Scully never allowed ambition to blind her to the truth. _I should have been able to do something to stop this, I should have realized what the pressure from above meant and caved in,_ he had thought to himself. As he was fighting down grief and guilt a woman rose out of a corner chair. 

"May I help you?"

"I'm Assistant Director Walter Skinner and I wanted to speak with one of Agent Scully's family members." He said holding out his hand.

"I'm Margaret Scully, Dana's mother." She took his hand and he looked up into the most beautiful and strong eyes he had ever seen. As Walter shook her hand he took a minute to get his breath. For some reason he couldn't seem to get enough air into his lungs to support his voice. As she continued to stare at him he found himself getting further tongue tied. _Shit._ He thought, _Why am I making such as ass out of myself?_ He turned again to look at Scully and collect his thoughts. He was amazed by this woman's quiet strength in the face of such devastation. It occurred to him that she had lost her husband not many months before, yet in waiting for him to speak she was calm and patient.

Finally he reacquired his voice. "I'm sorry about your daughter. She is an excellent and admired agent, Mrs. Scully. How is she?"

The controlled sadness underlying her voice broke his heart. "They don't expect her to recover. But there has been no change for quite some time."

Saying that he was sorry again wasn't enough. It seemed so inadequate in light of her loss. He turned to look at her, again at a loss for words, but as their eyes met an understanding passed between them and he realized that words weren't necessary, that she understood how deeply he felt. She smiled at him with such a sweet smile that he lost his train of thought again and couldn't speak for several minutes.

_What the hell is wrong with me? Get a grip. Now what did I come here for? Mulder... that's right Mulder._

"Mrs. Scully." She turned and met his eyes and he quickly looked away before his mind decided to go on vacation again.

He hadn't know it at the time but Margaret had also been experiencing some strange reactions to him. She later confessed that she had been surprised that Dana hadn't mentioned what a handsome man her boss was, and had been embarrassed by that thought. She didn't normally notice men in that way. Well maybe her daughter's boyfriends but not for herself. Walter she was noticing for herself.

"There have been reports that Agent Mulder is causing the family some difficulties in the pursuit of his investigations. I wanted to ask you the accuracy of those reports before I spoke again with Agent Mulder." It was at this point that Walter Skinner was to discover where Dana Katherine Scully got her temper and to realize that it didn't have a thing to do with red hair. Meg Scully's eyes got angry. They were very expressive. And her face acquired a look that made the AD want to cringe. It reminded him of his drill sergeant at boot camp back when he was eighteen. 

"Fox Mulder has been a great friend and support to this family since this ordeal began. He has called me to report on the progression of the case when no one else bothered." Here Skinner felt considerable guilt. Families were often left out of the information loop and he suddenly realized how frustrating that could become. "He never gave up hope on my daughter even when everyone else did and still hasn't..." here her voice broke and she took several deep breaths to control her emotions before continuing. "The only people who have been bothered by Agent Mulder are those who have given my daughter less than competent care or who have treated her as less than human. I would very much appreciate the names of the people who complained about Fox because I would like to deal with them personally." Walter Skinner was suddenly glad that he didn't fall into that list. This was a very formidable woman. After that interview he had left Fox Mulder alone and ignored the reports from the hospital. Which became much less hostile towards Mulder. Obviously Margaret Scully had had a talk with the doctor.

It was somewhere during this ordeal that Skinner had come to realize that Mulder's feelings for his partner might be more than professional. Maybe he noticed this because his own feelings for her mother certainly weren't professional. After their initial meeting he found himself calling Margaret on a daily basis, supposedly to inquire about Dana. As Dana got better the calls continued until they finally gave up the pretext that these calls had anything to do with her. A few weeks after she came out of the coma Skinner was informed by Mulder that he and Scully were going out of town on a case. Walter took several deep breaths, called Margaret and asked her out for the night they left.

They had taken it slowly. Her husband had been dead only a year and the grief was just starting to lessen. They had had a very good marriage. For his part Skinner felt very uncomfortable dating one of his agents close family members. Especially Scully's mother. He felt guilt for what had happened to her and knew that his objectivity had already been compromised because she was Mulder's partner. Dating her mother would only make the situation worse. Several times during their early relationship he had decided not to call her and to distance himself from her. _Fat chance._ Looking back on it if it hadn't been love at first sight it sure hadn't taken him long after to fall.

The first time he had pulled away had been at Christmas. He figured that the busyness of the season would give him a good excuse. He had missed their daily talks. His plan had been to go from the week before Christmas without talking to her and then call after the first of the year and then only occasionally after that. He'd made it to Christmas day and a rather stern lecture from his sister. She didn't know what the hell he was moping about but he'd been moping for days and she was tired of it. If he didn't want to talk about it, fine, but do something about it, Wally, it was getting on her nerves. An hour or so later he had called Meg. Fortunately Scully hadn't answered the phone. If she had he would have hung up and not said a word. One of Meg's sons had answered and he had asked to speak to Margaret. 

He had heard the man yell for his mother and then when she came in the room he heard him teasing her about a man calling. Skinner had smiled to himself. From the sound of things her son didn't believe for a minute that there was anything romantic going on. Well he'd sorta been right at the time.

"I wanted to call and wish you a Merry Christmas, Margaret." Skinner had said. He'd had to restrain himself, because what he really wanted to say was that he'd missed her like hell. Then he'd found himself asking her out for New Years. _So much for not talking to her until after the first of the year._ He figured she would have plans with her family and was shocked and pleased when she accepted. They had gone on from there. 

Three days without talking to her and he was a bear to work with and more than a week without seeing her and most of the agents under him were running for cover. No one knew what was affecting his moods... hell he hadn't even realized that he was particularly moody until Margaret had gone to visit some relatives out west. She was gone for two weeks and towards the end of the second week he noticed that the halls of the FBI building had become strangely deserted. He had mentioned something to his long time assistant Angela about it and had seen her sneak a measuring look at him. 

"Out with it, Angela, are a lot of agents sneaking vacation time or what?"

He watched her struggle with how to phrase her comments and then give up on tact. "They are aware that something is upsetting you, Sir, and when they see you coming they duck and run for cover."

"That's ridiculous." She hadn't argued, just shrugged her shoulders and left the office with a motherly smile.

He'd decided to take a late lunch and test out her supposition. Angela had been right. He noticed that when agents saw him coming they suddenly remembered something in another direction, needed a drink from the water fountain or a quick trip to the restroom. The only one who didn't duck and run had been Mulder. Fox obviously found the situation amusing. It also suddenly explained some of his comments over the last week. Mulder smiled at the retreating back of the agent he had been talking to and headed down the hall towards Skinner. "Having a good week, sir?" Had been his only comment as he passed by his boss. The AD had headed into his office and not come out until everyone was gone. He didn't want to probe too deeply into the source of his bad mood. Meg had returned the next day and life had gone back to normal. Until the kiss.

After her trip their dating became much more regular. At least once a week, often twice. Through an unspoken agreement they kept their relationship from her children, particularly Dana. Neither wanted to subject their fledgling relationship to too much close attention and family gossip. On one occasion Walter got tickets to a Kennedy Center performance and they were making a special night of it. Because of work he was unable to pick Meg up at her house so she took the train into the city to meet him at the restaurant for dinner. She ran a little late so he was sitting at the table waiting for her. When a beautiful, graceful and very sexy woman walked into the restaurant he looked on appreciatively. As she approached his table and he realized it was Meg he lost it. He was enchanted and the night was magic. 

They had been going out for several months but he had told himself that they were merely friends and companions. The most physical contact they had had was him taking her arm briefly to guide her or a gentle steering hand on her back. But as he drove her home late that night he found himself fighting his arousal. When he walked her to her door and before he realized what he was doing he took her into his arms and was kissing her passionately. She returned the passion with a fire that he hadn't realized that she possessed. At the thought of that fire he felt himself getting hard. _Damn even after all these months of marriage it could still drive him crazy just thinking about her._

That kiss really shook him. In the years since his wife's death he had not been involved with anyone. There was the occasional sexual encounter but his emotions weren't touched. No one clicked. Then Margaret came along and he found himself a friend, or so he told himself. _Fool._ That night and that kiss blew all his carefully constructed delusions away. He said goodbye swiftly and had left almost running from her house. 

That time he had made it three weeks without calling. The halls had gotten empty again. _Fine, let them run. It's good to shake them up occasionally._ Then came Dana's kidnapping, again, Fox's supposed sister and finally Mulder's disappearance. Walter felt so alone. He was worried about Mulder and had taken special measures to find out his whereabouts and then sent Scully to help. Then he sat and waited. After only a few hours he could no longer take it. He called Margaret. Although he couldn't tell her what was going on he derived comfort from her mere presence. She didn't pry and was content to be there for him. Two days later when Dana called to inform him that Mulder had been found and, although injured, would recover he finally released the breath he was holding. He sat in Meg's living room and gratefully accepted the love and support her arms brought. It was then that he realized, irrespective of the complications the relationship was going to create, he could not give up Margaret Scully.

After that initial first kiss they backed off a little. They held hands and kissed but kept the passion in check. It had scared both of them. He hadn't felt both love and passion for someone in over ten years and she had never felt that way about anyone but Bill.


	4. Chapter 4

After several more months of dating and more trouble for the X-file pair Walter and Meg finally decided to let the family in on who she was dating. Actually he would have liked to keep it quiet longer but she informed him that she had overheard her two eldest sons talking about getting Dana to find out who she was seeing and run a background check on the man. "Do you really want Dana and Fox investigating you, Walt?"

_That's all I need._ He thought and agreed to come to the annual gathering at Wolf Trap with her. At the last minute something came up and he had been relieved. "I'm really sorry, Meg, but Forrest, McIntyer and Pierce have to fly out tonight so we need to meet this afternoon. You go on and I'll join you later if I can." 

He detected a slight irritation in her voice. She hadn't been fooled. He was dreading meeting her family and their reaction to him, especially Scully's, and he viewed this meeting as a god send. It hadn't been so long ago that he had stared down the barrel of Scully's gun. Meg would never hear about it from him, he vowed to himself, but he still felt that Scully didn't completely trust him. Hell, with everything she had been through he couldn't really blame her. His fear was that if both she and Mulder decided that he wasn't good for Meg that they would work to split them apart. Walter knew how much her family meant to Meg and that whether they broke them up or not the stress of the conflict would tear her apart. He didn't want to see her hurt and even more than that he didn't want to lose her. 

"All right, Walter, I'll call Fox and ask him if he'd like to come."

_Low blow, Meg._ It was bad enough having to face Scully but Mulder as well was going to be doubly bad. When he'd managed to get through the meeting swiftly he debated not going but knew that sooner or later he was going to have to face Meg's family if he wanted to remain involved with her. And he wanted that more than anything. So he screwed up his courage and headed off to Wolf Trap.

What timing he had. He arrived just as Mulder was starting to kiss Scully. _Guess I should have known._ When he greeted Meg they jumped apart. _Doesn't hurt to keep them on their toes._ He hadn't been there long before he realized that Fox Mulder was firmly entrenched in the Scully family. They accepted him as Dana's date and from the treatment that Margaret gave him it was clear that she regarded him as Scully's future husband. _Well this explains why she's so cagey about their relationship._ Even the baby was taken with him. _Damn that had been so funny. The baby had absolutely adored Mulder and Mulder was looking at it like it was something unpleasant that he'd found under a rock._

Scully and Mulder were obviously divided in their feelings about Skinner. He understood. After all, he had been the one to shut down the X-files. The line he walked between supporting them and following Bureau procedures and the orders of his bosses was an arduous one. But they didn't make it difficult for him. They accepted his involvement with Meg, not with open arms, with Cancerman a constant visitor in his office who could blame them, but they didn't make it tough on him. They kept their fears to themselves and didn't try to sabotage his relationship. For that he would be forever grateful.

In return, he fought long and hard to keep them together as a team when they married. Now he wondered if that was such a good idea. If Mulder had had another partner other than Scully then Skinner might have had someone else to fall back on besides his very pregnant step daughter when he realized that Mulder was in trouble. No that wouldn't have been the case. Mulder had had several partners during his time in the Bureau and none had measured up. Not until Dana Scully had come along had anyone been able to keep up with Fox mentally. Splitting them apart wouldn't result in the sudden appearance of a suitable partner for Mulder. Skinner just wished Scully would have this baby before any more tough cases came along. The only other person he trusted to back Mulder up was himself because it was becoming obvious that whoever had it out for Mulder would take every opportunity to get him killed in the line of duty and they didn't care who they took with him. They had made a mistake with Heather, though. Her uncle had been furious when he learned about her altered file and that the backup Skinner had ordered had been mysteriously pulled. They had made a powerful enemy there and her uncle was still investigating what had happened. Walter knew he couldn't keep backing up Fox, that would get him in trouble with his superiors if he did so on a regular basis.

Seven fifteen? That wasn't like Mulder. Mulder was normally prompt unless there was a problem. Skinner hoped that there wasn't any trouble but since he knew his agent had been waiting all day to have it out with him it didn't bode well that Mulder was late. He would give him another fifteen minutes before he tried to track him down.

* * *

 _Late. I'm going to be late. Damn it. Screw it. F**k it. Great time to pick, Mulder,_ he thought to himself. He'd just spent the last hour and a half working out trying to cool off and control his temper. He'd run, then swam and finally spent twenty minutes punching a punching bag and pretending that it was Skinner. It hadn't helped. Yeah, he was exhausted, every muscle in his body hurt but he was still mad as hell at his boss. _How the hell could he do that to her... to me?_ He debated skipping the shower but he didn't want to show up in Skinner's office sweaty and stinky. Calling was also an option but he couldn't handle talking to the bastard right now. He sighed. _I'll just have to hurry and hope I'm not more that fifteen minutes late._

* * *

At seven twenty Skinner broke down and called the gym knowing that Fox often worked out after work. Dana had moved into a hotel so he doubted that Mulder had gone home. He didn't like that at all. She had however asked him not to tell her mother. He hated keeping secrets from Meg, especially when he could see that Scully was obviously sick. She'd thrown up twice in the hour he had been there, claiming it was simply the flu. The flu was going around but it was hitting her hard. Home and in bed being taken care of was where she needed to be not in some hotel under stress crying about her husband but she refused to come back to the apartment with him. _Damn it but she was stubborn. Well stubborn or no if she and Mulder hadn't worked it out by the weekend I'm going to get her and bring her back to Meg's and my apartment even if I have to pick her up and carry her._

"Gym"

"This is Director Skinner. Is Agent Mulder there?"

"You just missed him, Sir. He left about fifteen minutes ago."

"I see."

"Something sure was bothering him."

"Hummm? Why do you say that?"

"Well he showed up here right after work, proceeded to run like the devil himself was after him, then swam the same way for half and hour and then finished with twenty minutes on the punching bag. That's not like him at all. I can't remember ever seeing him have a go at the punching bag before but he beat the shit out of it tonight. Don't know who he's mad at but I hope he doesn't run into them anytime soon. He didn't look like any of it had helped when he blew out of here twenty minutes ago."

"Thanks, Ron. See you later."

"Yeah, you been slacking off a bit, Sir. Really ought to come and work out. Good for what ails you. Bye."

_Great. Just great._ Walter Skinner didn't know whether to be grateful that Mulder was trying to work out his anger or afraid that he was just practicing for his shot at Skinner. He heard the outer door to his office open and shut. Mulder didn't call out or make a sound just came strait in. The AD took a good long look at him as he came into the room and stood before him. Walter rose from behind his desk, walked around to the front and leaned against it. Mulder looked like shit. His hair was still damp and wasn't laying right, there were bags under his eyes, and his expression was one of barely suppressed rage. _Well at least he is trying to control himself._ Skinner waited for Fox to speak.

Mulder for his part was not in the mood to notice anything about his boss. A blinding haze of anger covered his vision. As a consequence he didn't notice the dark circles under Walter's eyes or the sad weary look of acceptance on his face. Mulder took several deep breaths. He was determined to get to the end of this interview without resulting to physical violence. He wasn't a violent man but what this man had helped Dana do... the risks they had taken...

"What in god's name were you thinking to let my wife out on field work in her condition. It's bad enough when she is at peak efficiency but my god man she's almost seven months pregnant." He shouted at his boss. "It was a dangerous assignment. She could have been hurt. Our baby could have been hurt. Damn it you f**king bastard we've already lost one child how dare you risk another one." Fox grabbed a paper weight from his boss' desk and threw it at the wall. He watched it shatter into a million pieces. It was the paper weight that he and Dana had given their boss last Christmas as a joke gift. It contained a flying saucer suspended in the middle of the glass. Both of them had been surprised when Skinner actually used it on his desk.

As Walter Skinner saw the glass shatter part of him shattered as well. His only thought was, _God this hurts._ He doubted that he stood a chance of ever getting through to Fox. Still he had to try, if not for himself, then for Dana.

"I didn't have a choice, Agent Mulder." _Try and keep this on a professional level. Maybe it won't be as bad._ "She would have gone with or without my permission. Hell, she went on her own anyway. She wasn't supposed to even leave the hotel. I ordered other back up but you can take a guess why that was mysteriously canceled."

"I can handle myself. Besides you shouldn't have let her know what you found out about Heather."

"She's the one that got the damned lead in the first place and stood and listened while I tried to confirm what she found out."

"Then you should have sent someone else and not got her a ticket."

"I was going myself, with her, to make sure that she stayed out of trouble. That damn meeting..."

Fox wasn't listening. "You shouldn't have let Scully come, had her stopped at the airport when you found she had gone. You should have trusted me to handle it. You don't respect my abilities."

"Damn it, Fox, I do trust you and your abilities, but everyone needs backup they can count on at sometime or another. If you'd been killed it would have been my fault for letting you go out with a partner who couldn't give you that backup. Mine! I should have screened her better, there were hints in the damn file I just was too damn happy for a change to notice them. You think I wanted to live with that. And since I was going... damn it man you know how hard it is to sit and wait. I thought it would be easier on Scully if she was closer."

"I'll never forgive you for risking Dana. Never." Fox was right in his face now they were standing eye to eye. His control broke and he finally took a swing at Skinner.

Skinner dodged easily, he'd been expecting this all day. He grabbed Mulder by the shoulders and shook him, finally losing his control and shouting back, "What the hell was I supposed to do let you die? Well I couldn't... I just couldn't stop her at the airport because she was the only one I could trust to cover your back." His voice got cold and hard, he sucked in his breath and turned his back to Fox. _Go ahead beat the shit out of me. I don't give a damn anymore._

He heard the office door open and turned back towards Mulder.

"Fox, wait."

Mulder stopped but didn't turn.

"Look whatever you do or feel about me..." He took a deep breath before he could continue. "You're tearing Dana apart." He saw his son's shoulders stiffen but went on. "You're going to go back to her... going to forgive her... we both know it. You can't live without her, but she's sick. She says it's just the flu but... it can't be good for her and the baby to be alone in a hotel, crying..."

"She's the one that chose to leave."

"Fox, your anger is frightening and it's hurting her... let it go before it's too late, before something happens... Please." 

Mulder never turned around, never said a word, just walked slowly out the door.

Walter Skinner gathered up his things and left to check on his step daughter, hoping that Meg would be back from Melissa's baby shower when he got home. Tonight he desperately needed her to be with him, although he had no idea what he was going to tell her about all of this.

* * *

Meg Skinner had gotten home from her daughters' baby shower around eight to find that her husband was not yet home. The message from him on the answering machine informed her that he had a meeting and would be home late. She sat down to rest and to watch her favorite murder mystery show. It had been on a long time and this was going to be it's last year. She would miss it. 

Walter walked through the door half an hour later, looking like hell. Not saying anything he had come over to her, taken her in his arms and just held her. She watched the rest of the hour long show sitting on the couch in his arms. Not a word was said.

At the end she turned off the TV and asked. "Are you ready to talk now, dear?"

"There isn't anything to say, Meg. I had a meeting with Mulder tonight. He's furious that I let Dana go out to Arizona to back him up on that last case."

Margaret nodded. She hadn't been too happy about that either but she had to trust her daughter and her husband to know what was best. From the sound of it it was a good thing that Dana had gone but Margaret still hated the risks that her daughter had run. "You know he's very protective of her. You didn't really expect him to take this calmly did you?"

Walter sighed and wouldn't meet her eyes. "I knew when I saw what had happened out there that Mulder would more than likely never trust me again. But he's alive and that's worth it." He couldn't say it aloud but silently he thought to himself, _I'm going to miss him._

"Come to bed, dear."

"It's a little early for me to go to sleep but you go ahead and turn in if you're tired."

"Walter, I didn't say a thing about sleep. Come to bed, dear."

He smiled and nodded yes. Tonight he needed to lose himself in her arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Dana wanted to go home.... just go home. She looked around the small hotel room and wondered whatever had possessed her to move out in the first place. Even her husband's stony silence was better than being cooped up here, and the fact that she had picked up a case of the flu hadn't made it any better. The truth was that at the time, she hadn't thought he would let her leave. She hadn't been able to stand the silence in their beautiful house, the house that was no longer filled with their love and laughter, the wonderful anniversary present her husband had bought her and surprised her with on Halloween after weeks and weeks of telling her that there was no way he would ever become a homeowner. She hadn't thought he'd let her leave, and then she had thought he would ask her to come back, but now she realized that he never would. Fox was Fox, and she had angered and hurt him. No, she should not have left. 

Since when had she become such a wimp that she would walk away from trouble and not fight for what she wanted most in life? This felt too much like being a victim and she didn't like that. Jack had made her a victim once. She had been wrong to let it happen again. Fox may have been right, but she had been so upset at the thought of losing him to a murderer she had not been able to see anything else at the time. His failure to even try to understand cut her deeply. Now she wanted to go home and apologize and try to make things right, to try to talk to him about it. It was the only way. She had to try and attempt to make him see that she too was a human being, his wife, and he couldn't always simply cast her aside or walk out or talk about divorce every time they had a disagreement. She had to give in and ask for forgiveness, but not to beg. Dana knew she had to be stronger than that. She put her clothes in the suitcase, and thought about Skinner's words. God, how he had reamed her out for messing up that autopsy, and he had been right. He had called her into the office a nd let her have it good and hard for screwing up the forensic evidence on an awful serial killer that Mulder had done the profile for. Thanks to her, a criminal could have walked... thanks to the fact that her mind had been on other things and she had been throwing up. She had grown defensive, but she had known he was acting properly in calling her in and right to give her such a harsh verbal reprimand. He really hadn't had a choice. She had messed up badly. Then, when he had finished lecturing her, finished giving her his ex-Marine version of hell, he had come and visited her at this hotel and asked her to come and stay with him and her mom until things could be worked out. He had been genuinely concerned, told her that he loved her and held her tenderly while she cried her eyes out. Dana still ached for Ahab's loving presence but being held in her step father's arms she had felt comforted as she hadn't since her father had died. She had turned him down of course. She didn't want her mom to know about the problems she and Fox were having, not now, not at her mother's age and expecting a baby, and not without trying to work things out herself.

* * *

Dana walked in the door and set down the suitcase. Thing was there and went crazy when he saw her. She picked him up with difficulty and looked around... empty beer bottles everywhere... pizza boxes... sunflower seeds... clothes tossed carelessly on the floor and across furniture. Thing had messed on the floor and Fox hadn't even bothered to clean it up. What a nightmare. It was incredible what he could do in just a few short days by himself, and the fact that he hadn't cared for the dog was a testament to what his mental state must be. Krycek started shrieking in the corner, and Dana realized he had no water. Krycek, her husband's beloved parrot, whose presence was the fulfillment of a childhood wish he had harbored all his life. She wondered where Aunt Sophia was. The woman would have been appalled, for she loved these creatures, but she had probably had to go out of town. Aunt Sophia did that now and then, never saying where she was going or what she was doing. Setting Thing down Dana began to clean up automatically, slowly putting things right in the house. The an imals were cared for and the clothes gathered. She ran a load of wash.

The beer bottles went into the recycling bin, the seed husks in the trash. There were some videos scattered around... oh, God, those sorts of videos. He had never bothered with them the entire time they had been married, and now he had brought them out. She quickly put them back where she had hidden them in the top of one of the cabinets in the dining room which they had ended up making into a family room since they didn't now have the option of expanding downstairs. She went into the kitchen and started a pot of stew cooking, wondering if he would even come home and want to eat. Finally, sick at heart, she took a blanket and curled up on front of the fire staring at the flames miserably. She couldn't seem to shake the chill in her bones. She hoped this flu would pass quickly. It was difficult to cope when your body rebelled against living. It was difficult to fight when all you wanted... needed... to do was sleep.

* * *

Fox was really angry. Skinner had had no right to talk to him the way he had about his private life. It was none of his goddam business. A good part of it was his fault to begin with. How the hell had he managed to get himself in the mess he was in anyway? Jeez... he had a wife he couldn't stand to be around, a boss who was his father-in-law, a goddamed house that he had never wanted to begin with, pets, and an aunt living downstairs who had reamed him out accusing him of acting just like his father. That conversation still infuriated him too. She had stood there looking up at him dressed in some sort of nutty gypsy fortune telling outfit. 

"Let me tell you something, Fox Mulder, there are only two things in this world that Dana Scully is afraid of. The first is losing you. The second of losing her babies."

"Well, I'm a big boy and the baby isn't," he had snapped. "She sure screwed up her priorities." 

"She knew you before she knew those babies, Fox. Maybe she was wrong, but you can't go on this way. She loves you like no one else ever has. Was what she really did that unforgivable? She saved your life."

"Yes I can. I can do whatever I damn well want, Aunt Sophia. It isn't your business." _Jeez, first this shit from Skinner and then from his aunt._

"No, no it isn't. But let me tell you something else Fox Mulder, you are acting exactly like your father and his father before him. You are treating Dana the same way that Bill treated poor Ruth, like dirt, withdrawing your love, doling it out only when she is in compliance with your wishes. You are being spiteful and manipulative here, and worse, I think a part of you is enjoying it. That's the scariest of all, Fox, the fact that you have that side to you and seem to be wallowing in it. She'd be better off if you would just hit her. Then she could kick you in the nuts and maybe you'd start talking. Dana, thank God, is made of sterner stuff than Ruth, and one day you're going to wake up, but what you'll find is that she has gotten over it and you. She isn't going to go the way your poor mom did. Dana is a fighter."

"Yeah, right. I'm having loads of fun being a bastard cause she put my kid's life at risk, and if she does get over me, so what?" he had demanded turning around to leave the apartment. "And don't bother to ask me if I know what I'm doing to my kid, because I almost didn't have one thanks to her."

"So you aren't perfect yourself. From what I hear you treated her like dirt on Martha's Vineyard, and she didn't stop loving you because of it," Aunt Sophia had called after him, "And don't you dare walk out of here without taking Thing and Krycek because I'm going to be away...."

Sophia's words had really hurt. In his heart he knew she had a point. Still, he had been glad that she had had to go out of town even if he had gotten stuck with the animals. He hadn't been ready to acknowledge her wisdom yet, or her truth, that he was once again lapsing into old familial patterns, and that a part of him liked it, liked it because he could back away and not be too close to anyone... liked it so he didn't have to be afraid of losing anyone.

He walked in the door and immediately the smell of something cooking assailed his nostrils. It was his favorite stew. Thing ran to him and jumped up and down looking to be picked up. Jeez, he hadn't even remembered to change the dog's paper or feed or water the bird. Normally, Thing annoyed him when he jumped up and down and barked, but he felt a little guilty so he picked the animal up and looking into the living room saw Dana sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket. He was once again aware of how small she was, how vulnerable at this time in her life, but he hardened his heart.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I... I live here..." she said but it hadn't come out as firmly as she had hoped, looking at him for some sign that they might begin to communicate.

"Fine... just stay out of my way...." he stormed upstairs leaving her to cry alone. She never came out of the living room. He went about his business, watching TV in the family room, doing whatever he wanted. For spite, he even got down one of his videos. If she could risk his kid's life, who cared what she thought. It was his baby... his and he had no control over what happened....

* * *

Dana couldn't sleep. Hearing the sounds of that video had made her ill, knowing that he was doing it to spite her. It wasn't that the sofa bed was terribly uncomfortable. In fact, it felt rather good against her back which had become sore from lying in the damp dirt in Arizona. It was just that she had hoped that they could start to work things out, and he hadn't allowed it. His actions seemed so out of character for him, and so like what Ruth had described William's. It was frightening. With a sigh she got up and put Thing down. She knew she would have to keep trying to make things right. In fact, she was determined not to give up. Either they would work out their problems, or she was going to have to find an apartment and leave him. That would be her last resort. That wouldn't be good for either of them... It wouldn't be good for their daughter. Despite what he thought, she did consider her baby, and shuddered at the thought of her daughter being raised by a woman who couldn't stand on her own two feet. Also, they had to communicate somehow. They had the child in common. They would now never be totally free of one another.

"Stay here, boy," she said softly knowing that the dog wouldn't listen anyway. It occurred to her that there was no reason for Thing to be different than any other "man" she had had in her life. Quietly she crept up the stairs to their bedroom. Fox was lying on his back, moonglow and the light from the open door cast across his face, the five o'clock shadow making him look ever so handsome. How she loved him, she thought, dark, troubled, sarcastic and manipulative as he could be at times. The baby kicked inside her. She remembered that night in Ireland when they had created this new life.... the love.... the laughter... the sense of awe.... Quietly she sat down on the bed and gently ran her fingers through his hair. She knew he was only pretending to be asleep. 

"I'm sorry, Spook," she said ever so softly. "You were right and I was wrong. I should have thought of the baby first. I did think of the baby, but then I couldn't think of her growing up without you... growing up without her daddy, and now she won't have to. Maybe... sometimes... I guess... there is something inside me sometimes that is cold and hard and... bad... and selfish... and I'm really trying to understand how powerless you must feel now, how helpless you must have felt to protect our daughter." She swallowed. "I should have thought of the baby first. I should have gotten backup. I wasn't wrong for going but I was very wrong for going alone." He ignored her. "I'll never forget the day that you asked me to marry you. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, that there were going to be disagreements, but I never thought... never thought.... I thought you would always love me and forgive me... that we would always love and forgive each other.." 

Her touch was driving him crazy. He wanted to. Oh, God, how he wanted to... but the scene of the murderer rising, charging across the short distance between him and Scully aiming that knife for her belly before she had shot him, Heather frozen in terror, him tied and helpless... He couldn't. If that knife had pierced her... She began to stroke his cheek. "I want this baby more than anything else in the world, Fox, but I'm more than an incubator. I'm human, and I'm a woman... and not perfect. I've been fighting all my life to be thought of as equal and I was so busy fighting that I didn't realize that this was different that I should have accepted help. How can I make you understand?" Finally he heard her sigh. "Okay. I guess you aren't ready to forgive me yet. I guess I'll have to give you more time..." She went to the door and got Thing who was scratching frantically and whining, then quietly slipped into bed next to Fox. "But at least my baby is going to have a mommy and a daddy even if they aren't speaking." She turned her back to him. "I'll give you time, Fox... I promise, but if I ever feel as though I have to leave again, I won't come back. I won't live like your mother did." She pulled the covers up over herself a little tighter and shivered. "I've forgiven you for a lot of angst, Fox Mulder, and I've never ever withdrawn my love from you." She slipped into silence and pretended to fall asleep. Finally, she did doze off, the dog curled up against her back snoring and dreaming his doggie dreams. Fox knew exactly when she had finally, silently cried herself to sleep. Her words had hit home.... but that vision of the knife coming at her... so close... the blood on her clothes.... 

Fox had wanted to reach out to her, to pull her into his arms, to tell her that it was okay, but it wasn't okay. He was still angry and hurting, and couldn't seem to let it go. Finally he did sleep albeit fitfully.

* * *

She wasn't in bed with him the next morning, but he smelled coffee brewing and remembered happier times... so many happy mornings. Oh, God. It was Saturday and they didn't have to go to work. He'd have to go anyway, just to get away from her. He went into the bathroom and showered and shaved, then slipped into some casual clothes. She was in the kitchen making banana pancakes. This woman really knew how to hurt. They were his favorite. She didn't say a word to him, but set a plate down in front of him and left the room. He realized that he was very hungry. He had taken the stew she had made the night before and dumped it, just so she would know what he thought. She hadn't said a word. He ate in silence and thought about Skinner's words, about how she had been throwing up, sick. He already knew about the botched autopsy. She had never done that before... ever. It would be just like Dana to work through everything... never once thinking that maybe she should stay home and rest for the baby's sake, but of course, she hadn't been home. She'd insisted on one of them leaving and since he had bought the house, it wasn't about to be him... like he'd really wanted the damned thing... but no, it had been her choice to leave. He hadn't made her. He put the plate in the dishwasher and went to work for several hours.

Dana lay down again for awhile wishing she could sleep forever. Physically she was starting to feel a little better, and the dog curled up next to her kept her body warm. How was she supposed to get him to forgive her? Why was he being so damned stubborn? She supposed from his perspective it must have looked pretty awful... the crazed man coming at her with the knife, but she had known she would get him, and she had. It had been a little close yes, but she had been in control. It's a good thing she had gotten there. With the FBI backup having been mysteriously pulled, the small town sheriff's office had been ill equipped to handle the situation. Even she had almost missed the killer, so stealthy had he been. And that Heather... jeez... how she had frozen with her weapon in her hand... Dana felt weepy again suddenly. She wanted her wedding ring back. She still had her mom's, but she wanted her beautiful ring with its Celtic symbols and little emeralds, the one that Heather had lost. She wanted the love that it had represented. 

Well, moping wasn't go to do any good. She'd have to wear him down, and if she couldn't... well... she'd have to make other arrangements... arrangements that allowed for a baby. The house her mom and Skinner had bought would have a small rental unit. Sooner or later, she would have to tell her mom and maybe she could move in there. She went to the kitchen and prepared a pot of soup. Fox loved her soups served with salad and crusty bread. Then she popped in a batch of brownies and went and fooled with the VCR. The brownies never tasted quite as good as her mother's, but he never seemed to notice. He was like a little kid with those stupid brownies. Sometimes he would whine and beg until she made him some. He would tease and cajole and reward her with kisses when she finally gave in, then devour them like a 12 year old even though it meant extra jogging the next day. She wanted her wonderful, sweet "Wolf" back.... not his evil older brother Liam... the man that Gran had loved so much from the moment she had walked into the room at her birthday party that time, not the reflection of the man who had destroyed the family.

* * *

The first thing he smelled when he came home was the soup, and then brownies. Aw, jeez, she was bringing out the big guns... his favorite brownies, the ones she so seldom had time to make. He hardened his heart. It wasn't going to work. He was going to have to talk to her, talk to her about making some other living arrangements, because they couldn't go on like this. None the less, he found himself hanging out in the kitchen. She didn't say anything, but got out a bowl and filling it with the thick pea soup, set it on the table with bread and salad, and butter... real... butter... yes, definitely big guns. Then she removed the pan of brownies.

They would still be warm when she cut them. He loved them that way, and she looked so beautiful moving around, so pretty in the maternity jeans and the casual shirt he had bought her. He focused his mind on the killer charging toward her with the knife. Taking a cup of soup for herself, she left the room leaving him quietly alone. He ate the soup, but didn't touch the brownies. That would show her that it wasn't going to work. No way was he going to give in.

Dana sat in the living room reading over some reports all alone. She heard Fox in the family room. That was where the TV was. She had given up her dream of a formal dining room because the kitchen was so big she had known that that was where everyone would gather anyway, and because she had wanted Aunt Sophia downstairs. The strange woman was going to be a wonderful child care provider. Dana had been so happy thinking that she might really be able to have it all, unlike so many women who were forced to work and who had to settle for less than perfect childcare arrangements. Then this had had to happen and ruin everything. She heard him reach in the cabinet and smiled. He was going to plug in one of those dirty videos for spite, but what he was going to get was the video of their wedding in Ireland. lot's of them. Dubbing capability was wonderful. She had switched the boxes, lot's of them. She really was trying to find ways back into his heart.... Maybe she should give him hell for being spiteful and childish... but no, she would wait give him a little more time. She would.

Maybe hell wasn't what he needed. Maybe it was just love and the sight of that beautiful ceremony in Ireland. She heard him curse, but the VCR didn't go off.

* * *

This went on for a week, seven agonizing days of being in the same house but not living together, of Dana hoping against hope that he would open up to her. The flu like illness passed and she began to get her strength back. When she did, she began to grow angry. She had returned home from the hotel to try and get Fox to talk, to let her in, but he wouldn't budge and she was tired of "groveling." It hadn't been all her fault. Yes, she was partly to blame. She should have accepted help, but he WAS alive because of her. She had been right about the entire situation out in Arizona. She had cooked for him, cleaned for him, even slept in the same bed with him, and he hadn't budged an inch. She sighed and decided that she didn't want to live like this anymore. If he couldn't learn to accept happiness, then she wasn't going to live in his dark depressed world with him. He had to want to change and apparently he didn't... not really. She was also tired of him not being able to accept her humanity, the fact that she did make mistakes, and that not everything was black and white for a woman. She had been caught between a rock and a hard place and had had a very difficult decision to make. Last night, before he had fallen asleep, she had whispered to him that his time was running out. He had ignored her.

So, while he sat in the family room with the sports section, she sat in the living room with the real estate section of the Sunday paper, looking at ads for apartments. She had decided that moving into her mom's downstairs apartment would be the absolute last resort. Hopefully, she would be able to find a two bedroom and near work... work! Quantico or Hoover building? Better plan to be near Quantico for the first year, maybe after that she could think about relocating nearer the Hoover Building if she went into field work with VCS... On the other hand, she kind of hoped that Aunt Sophia still might watch the baby.... oh, hell...

When the doorbell rang, Thing started to bark and run around. Dana picked him up. That was something that was getting difficult to do, very difficult. She and Fox arrived simultaneously to open it. Heather Schmidt stood there, her arm in a sling.

"I'm... I'm sorry to bother you," she said softly. "Can we talk for a minute?"

"Of course," said Fox. He escorted her in and asked her to sit.

"No... thank you." She sat for a moment. "My fiance is outside in the car. It's a lovely house."

"Thank you," said Dana politely. She held tightly to the dog who growled.

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am, Agent Mulder. The first time... well, the first time I froze up in the field I had just gotten out of the academy. Everyone blamed it on inexperience. I swore it wouldn't happen again, but then it did. When they transferred me to DC, it was supposed to be as a computer techie. I... well... when they assigned me to work with you Agent Mulder, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I absolutely promised myself I wouldn't freeze, no matter what... and I did... I almost got us both killed. Thank you Agent Scully, for saving my life."

Fox Mulder suddenly experienced a revelation. It hadn't only been his life that Scully had saved but Heather's as well and who knew how many others before the killer would have been stopped. It was an uncomfortable thought.

"All part of working on the X-files," said Dana managing a slight smile, although technically they had been working for VC on that case thanks to her husband's big mouth with Skinner. Heather suddenly seemed so young and vulnerable. She realized that she had misread the younger woman entirely. She hadn't had a crush on Mulder. She had been in awe of his work, his intellect. She hadn't wanted him sexually, but rather had wanted to become his apprentice following him around like a puppy learning whatever he had to teach, which was a lot. Once again, her jealousy had gotten the better of her in that regard. 

"Mr. Skinner said someone doctored my records to make it look as though I was an experienced agent with a perfect record... if I find out it was my Uncle... he's a Presidential advisor you know...." she stopped, a fundamentally decent young woman, uncomfortable in the world of nepotism and hard boiled politics, and got to her feet. "I... I don't really think it was though. He's okay... for a politician... I... I have to go." She reached in her pocket. "I... I found your wedding ring... in the pocket of my jeans... when I did the wash... I'm sorry one of the stones is missing...." She looked at Dana as she handed the ring to Fox. The dog in Scully's arms looked menacing for all its small size. "I've decided to go back to school and get my graduate degree. I wasn't meant to pack a pistol."

"Good luck to you, Heather," said Dana quietly and graciously. She meant it. The younger woman truly hadn't meant to cause any harm and was obviously devastated by what had happened.

"That goes for me too," said Fox. They both watched as Heather left, then Fox quietly closed the door. He still had the ring in his hand, but didn't know what to do. 

They looked at each other for a moment, started toward one another, and then suddenly Dana came to a decision and walked away. She didn't look at her husband or her beautiful wedding ring. She returned to the living room and went back to the apartment ads.


	6. Chapter 6

_Maybe I should consider a house or a townhome? No, I doubt I could afford that just now... Or I could see about buying Skinner's co-op... he'd probably finance me... of course that would mean I'd have to find a temporary place. No, I'm not moving back with my mother, not even in the rental unit in their new house...._

Fox was surprised by Dana's attitude, that she appeared to be resigned to his behavior. _Fine. That's fine with me._ As he walked toward the family room, he glanced in and saw her going through the paper with a highlighter in her hand. _What the hell?_ "What are you doing?" His voice was still cold and harsh. For a moment, just and instant, he had considered hugging her, but she had turned and walked away from him.

Dana didn't look. She had become suddenly numb, the part of her heart that was still hurting locked deep within. 

"I'm going through apartment ads. I plan to go looking for a place to move this afternoon and tomorrow."

Mulder stopped dead in his tracks _Apartments? That was permanent. Not like the hotel._ He abruptly remembered her whispered warning of the night before. He suddenly didn't know what to say or how he felt. His voice was dead quiet as he asked, "Why?"

For a long time, she didn't look up. She just studied those damn ads. Finally, she acknowledged his presence.

"Come here," she said. "Sit down."

He sensed that he had better comply, that it was important that he do so. She took his hand in hers, quietly and firmly and looked at him.

"Understand this," she said finding composure deep within herself, and a strength that came from she knew not where, "I love you and I always will, but I won't live like this anymore. I won't feel guilty for being happy. I won't apologize for protecting you, and I'm not going to bloody myself anymore pounding on those walls you've erected around yourself.

"Dana..."

"Shut up and let me finish... If a person really loves another person, he doesn't shut that person out and withdraw his love because he isn't getting his own way. That isn't Fox and Dana, that's William and Ruth, and I'm not going to tolerate it.

"Oh, come on...."

"No, Fox... you come on... I was wrong not to take... not to look harder for backup, and you have every right to be angry about that. I've learned my lesson, and I won't do that again, but I'm not going to stop living, stop backing you up because I'm pregnant, I'm not going to be coccooned. One of the reasons I loved you was that you always treated me as an equal, not some inferior creature because I was a woman, well I won't go back to being treated like some weak and helpless thing."

_Loved. She used the past tense. Oh, God, have I killed what we had?_ Fox found himself suddenly very afraid.

"Dana...."

"No... listen to me Fox... I have something to say... and I'm going to say it." Her eyes met his and held. He nodded imperceptibly.

"I won't live feeling guilty about being happy or anything else for that matter. I'm tired of being the one who always comes crawling back... and most of all I'm tired of being manipulated by your withdrawal every time you don't get your way. I am not going to permit my daughter to be raised by a woman who can't stand on her own two feet. I am not going to let myself bow to a man who is a control freak. I was caught between a rock and a hard place, and I made a decision. I chose to fight for the man I loved. And although I appreciate your feelings of helplessness to protect me, and I admire more than I can tell you your commitment and willingness to give your life for our child, I am not going to wallow in guilt about what I did, and I am not going to become your mother. I want to be married to Wolf, not Liam, and if I can't have my Wolf back, then I am not going to be married at all. Liam isn't going to break me, and this cycle of pain is going to end here and now before it affects our daughter. The stress you've put me through these past two weeks has already taken too much of a toll on me, and therefore the baby, a little thing I'm sure you didn't bother to consider in your single minded need to blame me. I sometimes think that you don't realize that no one will ever love you more than I have... but I'm asking myself, Fox Mulder, if anyone can ever really love you enough to satisfy you or make you happy."

Dana released his hand and picked up the highlighter. "I'm going to find a place and move out, and you can live here behind all those walls you've built for yourself. We both know that you really don't need me... a part of you only views me as an impediment to your work, your search for Sam, and now that I can't keep up, you would really rather not have to deal with me." Her voice faded off, and she highlighted an ad. Dana didn't cry. She would not permit herself to do so.

Fox Mulder found it heart breaking and terrifying... he knew she wanted to cry... but wouldn't. _Impediment to my work? Why..._ Then he realized the reason that she had fought so hard to stay in the field, why she had taken the stupid foolish risks that she had. She loved him and was afraid that if she couldn't keep up, that he wouldn't feel the same way about her. She loved him as much as Ruth had loved William... no, she loved him more, loved him too much to let him destroy her the way his father had destroyed his mother. _Doesn't she know she's more important than anything to me?_ Then a voice at the back of his brain asked, _Is she?_

He stood and thought, wondered what to say. He realized that if he let her walk, she wasn't coming back. There would be no more Christmases like last year, and no more incidents like the one on Martha's Vineyard. _Maybe I should just let her go?_ A voice deep down inside him answered that without her, life was not worth living. He had a sudden flashback to his childhood... his dad standing over his mom glaring down at her for some transgression, some stupid little thing Ruth hadn't done.... yes... Ruth had failed to make him pick up his toys before he had come home from work... Ruth cowering, afraid of the coldness, of not being loved, looking up at her husband, her lips trembling, almost relieved when Bill had taken off his belt and turned his attention to the boy, the boy that had been him. Well, Dana wasn't cowering. She just kept on circling those damn ads never once looking up. He sat back down again and was silent for a long time. A tear ran down his cheek. Finally he reached out and took the highlighter from her hand. He was able to speak, but his voice was forced out over the pain in his chest and throat.

"Dana," he whispered, "you are more important to me than anything, my search for my sister.... I'll give all that up if you need me too. It doesn't matter if you can help me in the search or not... I... I'm so sorry for what I put your through... The next time you have a bad feeling about someone I promise to listen to you. If I start to break that promise... you can hit me over the head with one of Aunt Sophie's crystal balls. Just please don't leave me." He felt another tear trickle down his cheek and was a little ashamed of it.

Dana sighed and wiped it away gently. "Do you think I want to leave you, Fox?"

"I... I... don't know what to think.... I guess I don't blame you... and... Gran... she always warned me to watch my darker side... and I haven't been listening very well these past few days..." He wanted to lay his head in her lap and weep, only she didn't have a lap, so he rested his head against the baby, exhausted. Gently she began to stroke his head.

"Is my Wolf back?" she asked softly.

She felt him nod. God, had she hit home when she said that she wanted her Wolf and not William. And, she had been right. He was a psychologist, and he should have realized what he was doing. No, that wasn't right... a part of him had.... He had made the conscious decision to ignore it.

"Don't go, Dana... please don't go..."

"Alright, I'll stay," she replied quietly. She felt a shudder run through his body and realized suddenly that he had fallen asleep. How like him to get himself so worked up mentally, physically and emotionally that when the crisis was over he collapsed in exhaustion. She sat like that awhile longer and decided that she was awfully damned tired herself. She shook him until he was semi-awake. "Come on, Fox, I'm tired too."

He was really out of it. _Wonder if he's had any sleep this week?_

She shook him again. "I can't make it upstairs, love," was his only reply. She smiled at him, "Then roll out of the way and let me pull the sofa bed out, okay?"

He didn't say anything but complied with her request almost literally asleep on his feet, the first real sleep he had had in days. When she was done, he dropped to the bed dragging her with him, cuddled up with her in his arms and was out. She followed him to sleep in seconds.

* * *

He awoke hours later Dana still clutched in his arms. He knew it was his turn to grovel or at least to concentrate on her. He brushed the hair out of her face and began to kiss her. He slowly undid the buttons on her blouse and then unhooked her bra. He needed to show her how much he loved her, to love her with all his heart. Somewhere along the line he became aware that she had begun to respond to him. He smiled, this would be for her. Fox knew his wife very well and he was determined to please her, to send her into ecstasy. And he did.

When he was done Dana lay back panting. _That was incredible. Her body had felt like it was on fire._ She had never before lain so passively back and accepted his ministrations. He had been totally devoted to giving her pleasure and hadn't allowed her to do one thing to please him. "Now it's your turn, Fox."

He looked up blushing. "A.... um... that really isn't necessary."

"Of course it is. I want to. Impossible man that you are, I love you." She smiled wickedly at him. He got an even brighter red and she hadn't thought that was possible, _What was with him anyway?_

"Well, I sorta... I mean... Ah gee look, Scully, I... um... sorta lost it..."

_Lost what?_ She thought to herself. And then she began to understand and started to giggle. "That's alright, Fox, we can wait a while." She grinned at him.

"Ah shit, Dana. I suddenly feel sixteen again but when you yelled my name like that..." 

She hugged him.... pleased....

"Dana," he said very softly. He had something to say, and it was difficult to say it. "There's something... I mean... I've done some pretty mean things... Oh, Jeez... throughout all of this, the thing I think I'm most sorry for is when......"

Dana waited patiently as he searched for the right words to say what he needed to say....

"When I made fun of.... well, you... asking me.... to make you pregnant... when we were making love... that was awful, Dana... really awful and abusive... I took something so beautiful between us... and I twisted it and I made it dirty and nasty and ugly just because I was angry... and sometimes... sometimes I don't know... I'm sorry... okay...."

Dana sighed with a combination of relief and happiness because in truth, it was that that had in some ways bothered her more than anything. She knew how hard it had been for him to speak of it, and she knew then finally that her wonderful "Wolf" really was back and that everything was going to be okay.

She just grinned at him as she got up, the smile lighting her face with joy.

"I don't know about you, Wolfenstein, but I'm hungry." At his nod of agreement she continued. "Let's replenish your fuel stores for later." She winked at him as she dressed and headed toward the kitchen. There was a sudden knock on the door and Aunt Sophia stood there dressed in a wild caftan and a red wig with the bird cage in one hand and the dog in the other.

"I have to go away again," she said looking them both over and knowing immediately that they had made up and everything would be okay. "Here is your creature collection. Have fun you two."

Dana took the dog and Fox the bird cage which he set in the family room in its usual corner. Dana put the dog down and it started sniffing around Fox's reeboks.

"Don't you even think about it...." he snapped as he saw a little hind leg start to go up. Thing ran to the easy chair and cowered.

"Squawk.... open you legs, Scully.... Up and at 'er, Mulder.... Open your legs, Scully...."

Dana looked down at her protruding belly which had suddenly seemed to grow even bigger these past few days.... "It wouldn't do him any good if I did, stupid," she laughed. Fox put his arm around her and headed to the kitchen... I wouldn't be too sure about that, Scully," he informed her, "Once my fuels are restocked, you might find I can be pretty darn creative with kitchen tables, particularly since Aunt Sophia is gone..."


	7. Chapter 7

Six weeks. Six long stubborn weeks. Meg and Dana had tried a few times to get their husbands to reconcile. Christmas had come. It had been the only time that the men had seen each other. They hadn't spoken. Dana had watched her step father's face light up when he opened the gag gift that Fox had gotten him before this mess had started. Walter had looked up and seen the angry look Mulder had shot Dana for going ahead and giving him the gift and realized that he wasn't forgiven. Skinner had barely said two words the rest of the day. It hadn't helped that her brothers had been so amused by the gift. It was a pen that had an alien on it and when you flipped it over the alien stripped down to a naked lady. Bill had had to work hard to keep the pen away form Michael his fourteen year old son. After all the teasing and playing with the pen Dana had seen Walter carefully collect it and put it away for safe keeping. _Why does Fox have to be so damn stubborn?_

It was just after New Years that she realized that her husband was suffering as well. Her mother had sent over copies of the pictures she had taken the day Walter and Fox had watched the four babies. The film had languished in the camera until her mom had finished the roll at Christmas. Dana had looked at them and laughed, then sighed sadly and put the pictures on the kitchen table planning to put them up after she changed out of her work clothes. She had come in to find Fox staring at them a bleak look in his eyes. When he noticed her he sat them down and walked away and nothing had been said. She had given up trying to talk to him.

She and Fox had made up eventually over the case with Heather but the rift with Skinner had widened. Damn she was tired of it. So was her mother. Any in person reports or case assignments for the last six weeks had had to go through her. Fox's paper work had been exemplary. He wasn't about to give Skinner any excuse to discipline him. Family dinner's had become unheard of. The few times that she or her mother had tried to arrange something one or the other or both of them would turn up missing.

For his part, except for that one brief crack in the facade at Christmas, Skinner seemed to take the situation in stride. The only person who suspected anything was wrong at the Bureau was Angela, Skinner's assistant. Over the last year or so Mulder would often stop by Skinner's office to talk and sometimes to report unofficially on cases that he was working on. It had suddenly stopped and her boss had become withdrawn. She suspected the reason why but she too was at a loss with how to deal with it.

Men were so damn stubborn. Dana and Meg begun to suspect that both Walter and Fox were satisfied with the situation because they were more comfortable with the distance between them than the friendship that had arisen over the last year. Then came Meg's illness.

* * *

Fox was flying home from an out of town consult and Dana thought that she would stop by and see how her mother was doing. It was late January and she was thirty two weeks pregnant her mom thirty five. When her mom had come to the door Dana noticed that she was paler than normal.

"You don't look too good, Mom. How are you feeling?" 

"I'm a little tired, dear. But that's only to be expected at this time." Her mother had assured her. Dana had watched her mom for awhile and felt uneasy.

"Mom, I'm going to get my bag. I want to check on you." Margaret had started to protest but one look at her daughter's face had quieted her. She'd seen that stubborn look in the mirror often enough to recognize that there was no way she was talking Dana out of it.

Dana had come back in and run a blood pressure check and then listened to her heart. This procedure had taken several minutes and Meg was beginning to get worried. "Mom, I'm calling Amy. I don't like the sound of your heart. It seems to be beating irregularly and your blood pressure is up."

The sound of her daughter's voice as she had told Amy's service that it was an emergency and the fact that Dana had identified herself as Doctor Dana Scully frightened Margaret. The phone rang within minutes and she listened as Dana and her doctor discussed her condition. "No, Amy, I don't think we need an ambulance I'll drive mom straight to the hospital. Yes. That's right. Okay. See you there." Dana had hung up, turned to her and said, "Do you have your bag packed, Mom?" Margaret nodded yes. "Good. I'll get it. Do you want to call Walter or should I?"

"Dana, I'd really prefer not to worry him..." 

Her daughter interrupted her. "Mom, you are going to be admitted and at the very least spend the night for observation. With your BP up where it is, it is my guess that you'll be there for several days. I do think you're going to have to tell him." Dana smiled at her mom for the first time since she had started her examination. _Mom hasn't changed a bit. She absolutely hates having a fuss made over her._

"You go get my bag. It's in the bedroom closet and I'll call Walter." Dana nodded and went to get the suitcase.

Meg sighed and dialed the phone to Walter's private line. _I really hate all this fuss._

"Skinner."

"Hello, dear, how are you?" Walter Skinner pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it.

_What's going on with Meg._ The very tone of her voice and the way she started the conversation was a dead give away that she was up to something. _Damn, I hope it isn't another reconciliation attempt with Mulder._ Those had gotten old fast. Not to mention painful. "Meg, if this is another attempt to get Fox..."

She interrupted him before he could continue. Dana was standing impatiently beside her. "No. We learned our lesson with the last one. My blood pressure is up a little and Dana insists on taking me to the hospital. She wanted me to call and let you know."

Walter felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. He couldn't get his breath, couldn't think straight. "Let me talk to Scully."

_He gets very bossy when he gets worried._ Meg thought. "He want's to talk to you." Margaret handed the phone over to her daughter with a warning look that said don't worry him.

Dana ignored the look, her step father deserved the truth. "Hello, Walter."

"How bad is it, Scully?" Dana smiled at the name, Fox did the same thing, falling into professional mode to distance himself from the pain he was feeling. They had a lot in common. _Especially their stubbornness._ She thought ruefully to herself.

"Mom's BP is elevated significantly and she is having irregular heart beats. Amy wants her in the hospital for observation. I'm taking her there now and Amy will meet us there in an hour."

Walter fought to shut his emotions down. He had to be strong, couldn't allow himself to panic and worry Meg, couldn't allow himself to dwell on what had happened to Annie. _I've got to be there._ "I'm leaving now for the hospital now. I'll meet you there," he said hanging up the phone and leaving his desk just as it was. _Screw the mess._

* * *

Five hours later Fox Mulder arrived home to find the house quite and no sign of Dana's car. He figured that she was probably over at her mom's since she knew that he wasn't going to be home till late. Still he was a little irritated. _She shouldn't stay out so late, she needs her rest._ The light on the answering machine was flashing. He hit the play button.

"Fox, I'm at the hospital with Mom. She is having irregular heart beats and her BP is way too high. They have her on medication and are running tests. I've got to go now and call the rest of the family. Love you."

He dropped into the nearest chair to catch his breath. The machine informed him that the message had been left at seven thirty, he checked his watch three hours ago. Dana still wasn't home. That didn't bode well. He sent up a prayer that mom and the baby would be alright. Grabbing his car keys and coat he headed out the door.

* * *

Walter Skinner was numb. Long hours they had waited for the results of the tests and to see if the medications would work. Margaret's BP had stabilized but hadn't come down and her heart although better was still showing arrhythmia. The ultrasound showed a well developed fetus of approximately five to six pounds and the lungs appeared to be developed enough to be functional. Dr. Amy Chan had suggest a caesarean section but Margaret had refused. She was doing fine and she wanted to carry this baby as long as possible. He had argued with her, as much as you could argue with someone whose BP was elevated and you didn't want to upset them, but she had refused. She wasn't being reasonable and he couldn't get over his own fears of losing her or the baby enough to think clearly to reason with her. She was also refusing to see any of her children. He really couldn't blame her. They both knew that her kids would try to convince her to have the C-section. She wasn't up to the struggle. Interesting thing was that she kept asking for Fox. _Mulder and women... Sheesh!_ He suspected that she might be attempting a reconciliation. _Fat chance. Fox wasn't about to forgive him. Well that was just fine with him. It made keeping a professional distance easier. Like you have a professional distance,_ a little voice in the back of his mind accused.

Meg's children and most of their spouses were at the hospital worried and waiting. He had just broken the news that she refused the C-section to them. That had been bad enough but when he had informed them that they couldn't see her they had hit the ceiling. He took the blame, he wasn't going to tell them that she refused to see them. Didn't want to cause estrangement between them and their mom. He'd actually tried really hard to get her to let Dana come and talk to her but Meg had refused, absolutely. She wasn't in the mood to be badgered by her children, Walter was enough. Suddenly he was barraged on all sides by their voices. "It's your fault... didn't you explain to her how important it is... why did you have to do this to her... you just had to have a child of your own..." 

He could hear Dana's voice in with the rest, "I'm a doctor, for heavens sake, I know better than to upset her."

Voices strident and accusing penetrated his brain. He didn't have the strength to fight, he was going to lose both Meg and the baby and it was all his fault. He should have insisted she have the abortion, not risk her life for his stupid desire for a child. He turned his back to the voices and let them wash over him as he stared out the window into the falling snow. They were right he was a selfish bastard and it was all his fault... His fault that he couldn't get through to Meg to have the C-section. He felt exhausted and defeated. 

Suddenly a loud voice rose above all the rest. "Out! All of you out now. Go, take a walk, get a cup of coffee, something to eat, I don't care but get out now. And don't come back if you can't be rational and reasonable. Walter's not to blame and he doesn't need this kind of shit now. It's not helping him and it definitely isn't helping Mom. If you can't be supportive find some place else to wait." As the voice spoke it's owner moved until he stood right behind Skinner, covering his back like any good field team when being attacked. 

Skinner heard some of the voices protest. Melissa's had been particularly strident but in the end none of the Scully's, even Dana, had wanted to tangle with an angry Fox Mulder. Especially because most of them realized that he was right. They had all quietly left to the sound of Fox admonishing them not to return for at least fifteen minutes. Skinner didn't know what to say. He felt so drained but he was suddenly very glad that Fox had shown up. He didn't feel so alone now. _Maybe Meg will listen to him._

He felt a hand on his shoulder guiding him to the couch. "Come on, Walt. Sit down and tell me what the doctor said. I caught some of it from the Scully tirade but I'd rather hear it from you." His son-in-law sat close beside him on the couch. Walter found himself drawing strength and hope from his presence. He sat on the edge of the couch resting his elbows on his knees hands clasped in between. 

"Meg's blood pressure is too high. She's been on magnesium sulfate for the last five hours to try and bring it down and to prevent seizures. Her heart's still throwing irregular beats although not as bad as when she was first admitted. All the tests indicate that the baby is fine and can survive on his own. Did I tell you I have a son, Fox? We're going to have a boy."

Walter looked up from his hands into his son-in-law's eyes. Fox saw unshed tears glistening there. He clasped his father-in-law's shoulder again. "Amy says that she has eclampsia and that she needs a caesarean section but she won't listen, absolutely refuses. What can I do? They all think that I should be able to talk her into it or failing that that they can talk her into it. They all want to see her but she is absolutely refusing. She doesn't want to be badgered by all of the kids to have a C-section." He broke off as he saw a smile briefly cross Fox's face.

Fox explained, "They are all stubborn as mules and function under the delusion that they are the only one in the family with this trait." Fox saw Walter smile at this. "I don't know whether it's learned or genetic but either way I'll bet both of ours are going to be high on the hard headed scale. They are going to get it from both mothers and fathers."

"Fox, I sorry about..." Skinner interrupted.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I know you were in a no win situation. I just couldn't accept the fact that you had to risk Dana to save me. Just don't like being protected, I guess."

"None of us do. But I'm finding that we all need back up at one time or another. Help me convince Meg. She seems to listen to you when she ignores everyone else."

"I thought she didn't want to see any of us?"

Walter looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, a chagrinned look on his face. "You, she wants to see." At his son-in-laws surprised look he shrugged, "I figure she's just trying to get us to make up but it'll still give you a chance to convince her. If anyone can, you can."

He nodded his assent and stood up. As Walter rose slowly, exhaustion in every move, Fox decided that he was tired of pretending. Before they turned to go he gave his father-in-law a long hug. As they stepped apart he grasped his shoulders and said, "Let's go talk to Amy and see what our options are, then we go talk to Mom."

* * *

"I thought that Walter and Mulder were fighting, Dana. What was that all about?" Bill Scully asked his younger sister.

"Fox being Fox. We were being awfully hard on Walter and while they won't admit it they are very close. So attacking Walter brought out all of Fox's protective instincts. He'd sooner not breath than not protect someone that he loves."

"I hadn't realized that they were that close." Bill sat down at a table in the snack lounge to drink his coffee. "They weren't speaking at Christmas."

"You noticed? And I thought they were being so subtle." Dana smiled at her brother.

"It was kind of hard to miss that they kept to separate rooms and never once addressed the other. What I can't figure out is if they were fighting why did Mulder get him that silly pen?"

"He bought it for him before the fight started. I wrapped it up and hid it in the packages hoping that it might break the ice. Fat chance with those two mules."

"So what was it all about and when did they settle their differences?"

"Well hopefully they are settling their differences right now and the fight was because the AD let me go out to back Mulder up on a case. It was pretty dangerous and Mulder was furious but Skinner didn't have much of a choice." Bill smiled as Dana fell back into Bureau names. "As for them being close. Hell, I don't know. So far neither one has ever admitted to anything more than the ability to tolerate the other.

"However, a couple of times I've heard Fox slip and call him dad and once I heard Walter slip and call him son. Fox's own father was cold and distant, not much of a father at all. As for his feelings for Walter..."

Dana shrugged. "He can't keep a secret from him and values his good opinion above just about anybody else's. As for how our step-father feels about Fox. Well Fox can get through to him when no one else can and he gives Mulder twice the freedom that he would allow any other agent. He's also risked his life on both our parts more times than I like to think about. I only hope that together they can convince Mom to have the c-section. They make a hell of a team when they decide to work together." 

Bill Scully nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

Margaret Skinner felt awful. Much worse than when she had entered the hospital. The drugs she had been given caused a headache, made her face feel like it was on fire and her eyes unable to focus. _I should never have let Dana talk me into this. I was fine at home. Oh god, I don't want to lose this baby._ Her tears began to fall under her closed eyes. She felt someone take her hand in the darkened room and gently brush the hair back from her face. 

"Don't cry, sweetheart, please don't cry. It's going to be all right."

"No it isn't. I'm going to lose this baby."

"Mom. You're not going to lose the baby." She felt someone else take her other hand. "Amy says that all the tests say he is going to be fine, as long as you go ahead and deliver now."

"Fox? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Mom, it's me."

She turned first to her husband on one side and then to her adopted son on the other. She wished that she could focus to read their faces. Well, she would just have to rely on their voices. "Does this mean that you two have made up?"

Fox Mulder nodded. "It was a stupid fight, Mom, and I was an idiot for letting it go on as long as I did. I'm really sorry but sometime I'm too stubborn for my own good. Think you can understand that?"

"I'm not so doped up that I don't know when something is directed at me, young man."

"I never thought you were."

"I want to give this baby more time..."

"He doesn't need more time, Mom. I've listened to what Amy had to say and compared it with my reading. Baby's survive the vast majority of the time at this stage of development. It's probably more risky, not just for you but the baby as well, to delay delivery. Trust me on this."

Margaret heard the pleading note in his voice. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You're the only one I can trust to be objective, to distance yourself from the situation and give me the truth."

_So that's why she wanted Fox. She's right to. If there is one thing you can count on Mulder for it's an honest analysis of the situation._ Walter Skinner suddenly understood why Meg wanted Fox's opinion. He then also understood why his son-in-law had insisted on talking to Amy instead of getting the information second hand from him. Fox had known what Meg wanted and was going to give her the truth. Walter Skinner shivered at the realization that if it had been better for the baby to wait Fox would have told her that, as well. He would have had a hard time forgiving Fox for that, he began to understand a little of how Fox had felt when he let Dana go after him and Heather. He was glad that it hadn't come down to it.

"Mom, I won't lie to you. I never have and believe me I wouldn't start now. I've looked at all the data and the options and a C-section is the best thing for you and the baby. There is some risk but the greater risk would be to wait."

She looked over at her husband, even without being able to focus she could sense the tenseness in his muscles, the fear in his heart. "All right, if both of you think it's for the best tell Amy that I'll have the C-section. How soon can we get it done?"

"She's finishing up with a delivery now and has scheduled an operating room for midnight." Walter informed her. 

"Will you be there?" She looked questioningly at her husband.

"Of course. You think I endured all those weeks in class with Mulder here to miss the baby's arrival now. He's even promised not to start a pillow fight until after the baby is born." He winked at Fox.

"Scout's honor, Mom, no pillow fight."

Margaret laughed remembering the silly behavior during Lamaze classes of the two men in the room with her now. "Good. You both better be on your best behavior. I don't want my son to get the wrong idea."

"Don't worry. I promise not to let Wally give him the football that he bought him until he's at least six months old."

"Football? What football?"

"Oh he didn't tell you? Guess he forgot about it when he left it at our house just before Thanksgiving."

"Mulder." Walter found himself blushing.

Meg laughed at him. "How many other toys have you hidden around, dear."

"Not too many." He wouldn't meet her eyes.

"We could already open our own toy store with what you have at our house. I thought we agreed not to buy too many things."

Fox smiled watching his boss squirm. He could sympathize. Dana had been giving him all kinds of grief about the clothes he had been buying for his daughter. He couldn't seem to help himself they were so cute.

"Should I believe him, Fox."

"Guess so, Mom. He only had a couple of toys stashed in his office the last time I was there." Fox grinned.

"I might find that a bit more comforting if I didn't know that that was at least seven weeks ago." Meg joked. She liked to watch her husband squirm and so did Fox. Besides she was enjoying teasing Walt.

Walter for his part hadn't felt this relaxed in weeks. Seven to be exact. His estrangement from his son-in-law had bothered him a lot more than he had been willing to admit, especially to himself. 

The anesthesiologist came in to do the spinal block and asked them to leave. This wouldn't take long and they could come back when he was done.

"Bye, Mom, see you in a few hours."

"We'll be right back, Meg." He leaned over and kissed her before turning to leave.

Mulder had noticed that Skinner had contradicted him. _I wonder what's up?_

"Fox, would you go tell the rest of the family what's going on. I really don't feel up to facing them now." Walter seemed to want to say more but was at a loss for words.

Fox waited patently for him to finish.

"They said that if it wasn't an emergency that they would let family members attend the birth. I've already talked to Amy and she says that if I want you can attend. Would you... I mean if you don't mind?"

"I'll be there. Let me go tell the Scullys what's going on and then I'll come back. Dana might want to be there. Would that be okay?"

"It's all right with me but you'll have to check with the doctor."

Fox nodded. "Will do. See you in ten. Do you want anything to drink or eat?"

"I think I'll skip the food until after the birth if you don't mind."

His son-in-law grinned from ear to ear. "I see your point."


	8. Chapter 8

As Fox Mulder walked down the hospital corridor he heard laughing and talking coming from Margaret's room. The nurses at the station were looking put out. He went up to the chief nurse and asked. "How long have they been there?"

"Well, they spent half an hour looking through the nursery glass as we gave the Skinner baby a bath. When Nurse Johnson proceeded to tell them that only close family members could remain after hours they got hysterical and took great delight in informing her that that was their little brother. I don't think Nurse Johnson believed them."

He laughed at her look of suspicion. "Honestly, it's true. Their mom just remarried last year and this was a surprise gift. They've been so worried about her that I guess it's a big relief for it all to have worked out so well. How long have they been in with Mrs. Skinner?"

"Somewhere between fifteen and twenty minutes."

"Well Dr. Chan said only ten so I'll run them out." He held out his hand to her and said, "By the way I'm Fox Mulder and I'll be keeping the Skinners company tonight. Dr. Chan already okayed it." He headed off down the hall.

"Okay guys time to call it a night. Amy said no more than ten minutes and the nurse out there has informed me that you've been here twice that long." Fox entered the room. "Hey nice room, Walt, big bed too. How'd you swing that?"

Skinner blushed. Mulder could put more innuendo into a simple comment than any man he knew. "You know very well that the hospital keeps a couple of these rooms for people willing to pay a little extra. With the size of Meg's family we figured that it was a necessity. And I'll lay you odds that you sign up for it too if it's available when Dana has her's." 

Mulder only grinned and nodded as the Scully's all said their goodbyes and headed out the door. "Remember Amy said to leave Mom alone for twelve hours so we'll see you tomorrow night. Bill I promised Michael and Eileen that they could come tomorrow and see their new uncle. If you get tied up at work let me know and I'll come over and pick them up. Great, see you all later." Fox smiled as he heard Melissa complain as she headed down the hall as to why Fox got to stay when the rest didn't. _Ditz brain._

Fox handed Walter a bag. "What's this, Fox?"

"Well I figured you hadn't had anything to eat so I stopped by that all night deli and got you a corn beef on rye with spicy mustard. I went for the mild mustard, didn't think your stomach would handle that fire engine stuff you normally eat. There's also some apple juice and orange juice in the bag."

"No coffee?"

"You don't need any. Gotta get your rest now 'cause in a few days you're going to be doing late night duty."

"Did you get yourself anything?"

"Yeah. I ate it on the way over. I was starved." Fox turned to tell Meg that he was sorry he couldn't get her anything but that doctors orders said nothing for another several hours only to notice that she had fallen asleep. He looked at Walter and nodded his head in her direction and then towards the door. Walter got up and they moved a couple of chairs into the hall right outside of her door to let her sleep. "I took a look at Little Squirt on my way in. He's got your hairline, Wally."

"Very funny, Mulder."

Fox watched his boss eat for awhile in silence. Walter could tell that he had something on his mind but decided to wait until Fox was ready to talk. It didn't take long. As he finished his sandwich and drink his son-in-law started to speak.

"I've got something for you." He held out a small box that he had removed from his coat pocket.

Skinner raised his eyebrows in a question as he took the box and opened it. Inside was a paper weight almost identical to the one Fox had broken so many weeks before. _Where in the world had Fox managed to pick this up at this time of night?_

At the puzzlement in his father-in-laws eyes he explained. "I didn't buy it tonight. I bought it earlier today on my trip out of town. I saw it and I couldn't... well I was going to have Angela put it on your desk to see if you would forgive... but now I thought I'd give it to you in person." He couldn't meet his father-in-laws eyes. Walter looked at him startled. Fox continued, "I was tired of fighting. It hurt too much." A smile touched his lips as his father-in-law gave him a hug.

* * *

Walter Skinner woke up late the next morning after very few hours sleep. He supposed he was lucky to have gotten any at all as he had been so wound up about Margaret and the birth of his first and only child. Fox had been a life saver last night, and he wasn't even thinking about him talking Meg into the C-section. He'd stayed with them all night, talking to Walt through the first part of it and then to Meg while Walt slept on the couch in the hospital room. The special room designed for families was a life saver. Morning had come and once all the change of shift stuff had been taken care of and Meg had given the baby a bottle, she had announced that she was feeling sleepy again and her son and husband were to go home and get some rest. They had both opened their mouths to protest but one look at her face told them not to bother, so home they went. 

He'd even actually managed to get some sleep. One of the vestiges of the Viet Nam war was that he could sleep anywhere under any circumstances, so he'd caught a few brief hours. A son... he had a son... Suddenly in a few moments time, his entire life had changed. He had become "immortal." Maybe, just maybe this was why he had not slipped away so many years ago in the jungle. Maybe fate had deemed he return so he could bring forth this new life with Margaret so many years later. He didn't it question it too closely, but he was very very glad that he had come back. He showered and dressed quickly eager to get to the hospital for some nice private time with his wife and new baby. It was his turn to feed Little Fox. He'd been generous and let Meg take the first time but now it was his turn. He didn't even bother with coffee, choosing to stop at a nearby 7-11 and pick up some of their gourmet brew, a cup for him and another for Margaret who loved her coffee and who would definitely not like what they would have served in the hospital for breakfast.

* * *

When he arrived, Squirt was asleep in his bassinet, but Meg was awake looking pale and tired. He bent over and kissed her.

"Hi, mommy," he smiled at her. "Brought you some real coffee."

"Hi, Walter," she said. She tried to smile, but instead tears ran down her cheeks. He looked at her alarmed. 

"Something wrong with the baby?" he asked her.

"No... he's perfect... but... but I can drink coffee...."

"So? This is a bad thing being able to drink coffee?" He didn't get it.

"Well, if I could nurse him, they would be telling me not to...."

"Look, Squirt will do fine on the bottle... Now let me help you sit up and enjoy the coffee." He squeezed her hand and she took a kleenex from him and dried her eyes. How could you explain to a guy like Walt that you didn't need a reason to cry. You just cried because you cried. At that moment, the nurse came in with a supply of four ounce disposable bottles and Squirt woke up demanding to be fed. 

"Sure," said Meg.

No sooner had he settled down with the baby in his lap than Melissa and Chuck entered the room with their little one strapped to Melissa's chest. _On, joy._ They tied a big bunch of balloons to Meg's bed, took the baby from Walter and oohed and ahed over him. Chuck went in search of chairs. _Uh oh...they are going to stay._ He finally managed to get Little Fox back and put him on his shoulder to burp him. Meg saw the balloons, announced that they were lovely and started to cry. Lis passed her a tissue. For a moment it looked like she might cry too.

Walter put the nipple back in the Squirt's mouth, when who should come walking in but Bill, Maureen, Michael, Eileen and baby Emily. Chuck went in search of more chairs. They passed Uncle Squirt around and oohed and ahed some more over him. They, too, placed a huge bunch of flowers beside Meg whose face was dripping again.

"Can I hold Uncle Squirt?" asked Eileen.

"No," said Skinner more harshly than he had intended causing the little girl's lip to pop out.

"Yes," said Margaret having raised enough kids to know that they didn't die from being held by other kids as long as you supervised.

"I'm sorry, Eileen," said Walter as his step children glared at him. "You can hold him after we bring him home for the hospital. That's a promise. Okay?"

"Wally being tight assed again?" In came his sister Lisa with her three kids. Her husband was out of town. "You just ignore your Grandpa Wally honey. He's just a nervous first time dad.

_Dad, the key word is dad, dammit. Don't I get any say in what happens here. Jeez, I guess I don't. There went the baby again. Why can't they just let me feed him in peace. Sheesh.... I'm the dad.... doesn't mean a thing obviously..._

"I'll get some more chairs," said Chuck. Walt watched his son work the room. _At this rate he's going to starve. Doesn't Meg know the baby needs to eat.... Of course she does. Calm down Walter..._

In walked Chris with Jen and Dani. To his horror, Walter realized that Jen was pregnant again. _Oh, God, does it never end..._ Chuck went for more chairs while more balloons were tied to the bed. Then Kevin showed up with of all the doggone things, a humongous box of chocolates. Meg burst into tears yet again, a fact that they all seemed to take for granted was normal. Well, he didn't think so, and she still hadn't drank the damn coffee. Lisa had the baby and the bottle, _Damn, it's supposed to be my turn!_ And Little Fox was guzzling in a way that he sure hadn't for his dad. _Takes after his namesake with women._ The kids were already in the chocolate. Well, at least Kevin had left his wife and kid.... so who walked in but Anita and the baby.... Oh, God, was that bulge in her belly he saw.... not her too.... Oh, God.... another one? Didn't the Scullys ever stop reproducing?

"Congratulations, Jen, Anita....." said Chuck, "I'll go get some more chairs." Little Squirt let out a burp that fairly exploded the room. Everyone laughed. _Talented kid..._

Well, at least Mulder and Scully hadn't shown up yet. Maybe they would just stay home. Talk about feeling like a fifth wheel. Did this kid need his dad at all?

By this time the din was getting so loud that he didn't think things could get much worse, and then all of a sudden in came Dana, Fox and Aunt Sophia. In his hand, Mulder carried a balloon in the shape of a flying saucer that took up half the air space in the place. The kids immediately started fighting over who was going to get to take it home.

'None of you," announced Mulder with great finality. "The flying saucer is for little Wally. That's final." There were a lot of moans of protest.

_Maybe the nurse will come and throw everyone out. Yeah, this had to be against the rules. Oh, jeez... Little Wally... damn... Mulder had the Squirt now.... and Scully was fussing over him... Was that bottle empty yet..?_ Quite suddenly he made a sound as though he might explode. All of a sudden he became Walter's son again.

"There are diapers under the bassinet," Meg informed him. He wondered if he was always going to end up as head of the shit brigade... ah jeez, they were cloth diapers....In the end Dana took pity and changed the baby. "Look, it's just baby poop, nothing worse than what landed on me that time the fertilizer factory blew up in Millers Landing." she informed him. _Oh, Lord, it was soft and yellow and messy.... just baby poop.... what is this just... when did it turn into regular poop? This was worse than the stuff last July._

Suddenly, nurses began to appear out of nowhere. Meg's temperature was taken twice. Someone came in and asked if she needed water. Another had to check the chart. A black woman came in, looked Mulder up and down and made a strange noise before leaving. She was followed by a young Irish looking nurse who took Meg's temperature... again. The nurses kept looking at him, too. _Do they expect me to get all these people out of here?_ The room had gotten so damned crowded that it was like sitting in Grand Central Station during rush hour. _Isn't there a soap opera about something like this? "All My Children?" But they aren't all my children... only Squirt... jeez..._

Mulder had gotten Little Walter back from Dana and was playing and fussing with him while the rest of the family talked and kidded with Meg. He watched the tears roll down her cheeks and thought, _Looks like she's a crier. Damn, bet that meant that Dana would be too. Shit, I hate to see her cry. Even if it is just hormones._ He glanced over at Walter. _Shit. That look would scare most of the agents in the bureau._ Fox had known it to send agents scattering in any direction away from the AD when his boss walked down the hall with it on his face. Skinner's cold and distant look meant trouble. Mulder smiled to himself realizing what the trouble was as Walter kept glancing at the baby. He slipped to the back of the crowd and over towards the door, carrying the baby and a half full bottle. He waited for Skinner to find Little Walt. He knew that he would, his eyes had been following the baby around the room longingly since Fox had gotten there. He saw Walter look to the last place they'd been and then quickly scan the room almost in panic. 

First he saw the baby then looked up and saw Mulder nod towards the door. Quickly he followed him out. "Mulder, where the hell are you going?" Skinner went after his son-in-law and baby.

Mulder snuck into a little lounge area at the end of the hall. The chairs were out of sight of the door of Meg's room. He waited for Walter to catch up with him, then motioned for him to sit down. Once he was seated he handed him the baby and the bottle. "I don't think you're going to get any time alone with Mom for awhile but maybe you can stay hidden back here long enough to get him to finish his bottle." Walter saw understanding in Fox's eyes. He nodded then found that his eyes were itching and had to wipe them with his shoulder, his arms being otherwise occupied. Fox smiled at him and continued. "Want me to keep you company or would you prefer it if I go back and run interference."

"Run interference. But before you go, do you know what's wrong with Meg?"

"You mean the tears?" At Walter's nod of yes he explained. "Well from what I've read it's a combination of the hormones readjusting, the body's exhaustion and the let down from having the baby gone from her body. It shouldn't be this bad for more than a day or so but after that you'll probably find it doesn't take too much to make her cry for at least the next couple of months, until her body readjusts. If it seems to take longer than that you'll want her to get checked out. Okay I'll try to give you twenty to thirty minutes."

Walter Skinner smiled his thanks and sat back to quietly feed his new son.

* * *

Leah Rosenblum stood by the nurses station and took a sip of the ice cold coffee. As usual, it was awful. One day she just might actually manage to drink a cup hot while she was on shift. She heard the noise coming from room 208 and told herself that as head nurse, it was her job to go in and break up the party, but the shift had been busy and she really needed to recaffeinate herself. Besides, Mrs. Skinner was a wonderful patient and it was all family. Kathleen O'Malley, RN, the map of Ireland on her face came up also with some coffee in her hand. She was quickly followed by Tenisha Jackson of African descent, and Cynthia Downing, RN, all American wasp. 

"God, he's so good looking....."

"Who?" inquired Leah.

"The tall guy with the gorgeous hazel eyes in room 208. If there was a bed left on this floor....."

"You'd change the sheets and behave yourself...." laughed Tenisha.

"No, you'd be fighting me for it...and him..." said Kathleen.

"Looks like white meat to me," shrugged Tenisha. "Give me an African man any day."

"His name's Fox," announced Cynthia, "and I bet he's well hung...."

Dana had been walking, or waddling by escorting Eileen to the soda machine and heard the conversation. Unable to resist the temptation, she stopped. "He is..." she announced, "I'm his wife I should know..." With a chuckle she took Eileen down the corridor.

"Good ones are always taken... She looks familiar...."

"Melissa McNeely's sister.." Leah informed them. "And she is an MD."

"Oh, Lordy," said Tenisha, "please tell me she isn't going to deliver here. That sister of hers... came in talking about natural childbirth and auras.... and one bad pain and she was screaming so loud for an epidural I thought the walls would collapse..." 

"She's going to deliver here," Leah informed them.

"Thought I asked you not to tell me that... and Mrs. Skinner, her mother... what the heck did she need a baby for at her age?"

"She remarried. These things happen..." laughed Cynthia. "That husband of hers is kind of sexy.... Looks like he'd be nicely hung, too. And a very tight ass...." The sounds that followed indicated that the nurses truly appreciated this characteristic.

"Okay, ladies... mind out of gutter... back to work," ordered Leah. She really should go break up the party.

Walter Skinner, who was finishing up feeding Walter Fox in the little alcove, had heard everything. He was glad the nurses had all gone off in other directions, the first comments had brought tears to his eyes from laughing and the last a blush to his face. First time being called a tight ass had made him blush. He hugged his son one last time before heading back into Meg's room.

* * *

Dana made her way back to the room with what seemed like every soda in the machine. Eileen immediately made a beeline for Fox and handed him his soda which he took. He popped the tab and took a long slug. She looked up at him with serious blue eyes.

"Uncle Wolf, the nurses all said that you were well hung, and Aunt Dana said it was true. What does well hung mean?"

"That means he has a big penis dumb ass," said Michael as Mulder snarfed and spit soda across the room not missing anyone. He turned bright red. Bill walloped Michael across the back of the head just as Eileen asked Uncle Wolf if it was true. Margaret burst out laughing, a bad mistake after a c-section and let out a cry of pain at which time Skinner got to his feet somehow managing not to drop the baby who he had kept hold of.

"Okay, that's it. Everyone out. All of you. You can come and see Margaret after she has been home from the hospital for about 10 years. Bye...."

"But Uncle Wolf is it true?" demanded Eileen once again.

"OUT.." roared Skinner in his best Marine voice as Margaret started to laugh again and decided that it was just too painful. Everyone ignored him, slowly kissing their mom good-bye and sauntering out the door at their own pace. _Poor Fox from the looks on the faces of Meg's family he wasn't ever going to live this down._

Dana and Fox were the last to leave. Walter handed the baby over to Meg to hold and went over to talk to Fox at the door while daughter and mom said good-bye. "Don't worry about it, Fox."

"Easy for you to say, Walt."

"Hey, if the Scully boys give you any grief just tell 'em it's because they're jealous. The nurses weren't making any such comments about _them_."

Mulder met his father-in-law's eyes and grinned remembering the location of the lounge relative to the nurses station, the gleam in Walt's eyes told him all he needed to know.

* * *

By the time Leah Rosenblum worked her way into the room, it was empty except for Mrs. Skinner, her husband and the baby. Poor man. He looked very confused.

"Hello, Leah," smiled Meg, "Do you think I could have my pain killer now?" 

"Sure, Margaret," she said. In a little while Margaret was sound asleep and so was Uncle Squirt. Quietly, finally, Walter began removing baby clothes and counting little fingers and toes. He took the little boy's hat off, and chuckled silently to himself. He was very much afraid Mulder was right. Uncle Squirt did have his father's hairline.

* * *

Having gotten up early, from what could prove to be the last good night's sleep he might ever get, Walter Skinner fumbled his way to the kitchen and brewed coffee. It was amazing how fast he had gotten used to having a wife to do it for him, and Meg was a very traditional woman. She had spoiled him... definitely. Half a cup of the bitter brew later he could more or less think straight. He found himself looking around. Things were okay.... Yeah, things were pretty clean. Well, they looked pretty clean. He'd been in the military and thought he knew clean when he saw it. Hopefully his wife would agree when she got home. He, Mulder, Bill and Chuck had put the together the night before. There had been a lot of laughter and comraderie as well as some language that could make even an ex-Marine blush. 

There had also been prodigious amounts of beer. Chuck had been there and after three beers had taken out a joint, but upon brief consideration had decided that this was not exactly the most intelligent thing to do in front of the Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not to mention the fact he now had an example to set and most of all, that Melissa who had not been in the best of moods lately would kill him if she found out. He went into the bathroom and flushed it complaining that it had been damned good stuff, too. While this was going on, Bill had spread out crib pieces, nuts, bolts and screws of various shapes and sizes and the instruction book. He had billed himself as the expert crib "putter togetherer", however, when faced with the chore, he had just kept muttering that it never got any easier no matter how often you did it, and why the hell had he bothered to have a vasectomy if he was going to have to do it again anyway? It was like Christmas tree lights... always a pain. Every damn time you did it, the parts seem to be tied in a knot. 

"How the hell come your crib came all put together?" he had asked Mulder sucking on his finger where he had stabbed himself with a screw driver and had made it bleed.

"Hey Bill, I just wrote a check to an expert like you and had them deliver it," had been Mulder's reply. Eventually it had gotten done properly he thought. Hopefully they had scrubbed the spilled beer off the mattress, or at the very least Meg wouldn't smell it if they hadn't. Now it waited in the small second bedroom of his co-op for him to go and get the baby. Walter smiled. Mulder had made the bed up with a sheet and a baby bumper with blankets nearby. He had been reading from instructions that Dana had provided when the four of them had insisted that they could handle this baby business all by themselves. Bill had taped a sign slightly askew on the end of the crib, handmade by his daughter Eileen. 

"Welcome home Uncle Squirt." Skinner supposed that things were about as ready as they were ever going to be. The changing table was stocked. The bassinet was in the bedroom. He had laid in a supply of formula and bought Meg a case of disposable diapers even though she had insisted she wanted to do cloth. Mulder had, unfortunately reminded him that he would need to buy a great big box of maxi pads. 

_Leave it to Mulder to think of something like that._ Hell, that was something he thought he'd never have to deal with. Meg was too old. As much as he had loved Annie, he had always drawn the line at going to the supermarket and buying Kotex. It was totally undignified for an ex-Marine FBI agent to be seen buying sanitary napkins. He had tried to explain to Mulder that it was simply not something that the Assistant Director could do and that was why he had agents. His job was to delegate... delegate... delegate. Mulder could get his ass out to the all night grocery store and buy the damn things himself since he seemed to be henpecked in that regard. In the end they had drawn straws, but Mulder had cheated and Skinner had caught him. Grabbing him by the ear as though he were a ten year old, they had taken off for the Stop and Shop. He had grabbed the first box he had seen and started to run, but Mulder had explained to him that those were not suitable. They were chemically treated with deodorant and perfume and would not be healthy after childbirth.

"How the hell do you know all this shit, Mulder?" he muttered.

"Reading in the doctor's office," he replied, "which is something that you have obviously not been doing."

"I think I liked you better when we weren't speaking. There... is this plain enough for you?"

"Not me that's going to use them, Wally. Up to you if you want your wife itching and burning...."

"Oh, hell..." They had made there way to the counter to find a long line and the automatic scanner broken. Well, it really hadn't been Mulder's fault that he had grabbed the only package without a price stamped on. The 16 year old guy behind the register held them up and in his loudest voice screamed, "Price check on Kotex Maxi Pads.... mega size..." Everyone in the store seemed to be looking at them. Skinner had wanted to melt.

Then, to his horror, he heard someone say...."Hey, isn't that the guy on the cover of the Enquirer, the one they based that TV series UFO Chasers on?"

In horror Skinner and Mulder had looked down at the magazine rack. Sure enough, there on page one of the newest addition was a shot of Mulder and Scully with her belly seeming to stretch to California...."Oh, God...." Skinner had thrown a 20 on the counter, grabbed the box and they had run for cover as people approached Mulder for an autograph. 

"We are going to have a long talk about this," muttered Skinner as they ducked into Mulder's car and stepped on the gas. "In my office.... as soon as I get back to work..."

"Hey, it's not my fault...."

Then, when they had returned and ordered a pizza, Chuck had announced that there was one more thing that they had to do, sterilize bottles.

"Margaret didn't say anything about that and there is nothing on the instructions that Dana sent," Skinner told his musician son-in-law.

The kind hearted Chuck was determined however that Missy's mother's baby was not going to be exposed to any germs.

"Listen, my mom says that you have to boil bottles. She's really pissed cause Lis won't do it, says the kid's gonna get diarrhea or something. Do you want to take any chances?"

"Why don't we look it up in the baby book?" Mulder had asked. Hmm... Mulder being reasonable.... logical... even through the beery haze the thought had scared Skinner just a little. The problem was that Margaret had announced that as the mother of five and the grandmother of 6 and one on the way, no one was to waste money on baby books because if she didn't know what she was doing by this time, it was too late. The only baby book in the house was an original Dr. Spock that she had been given over 30 years ago when Bill was born that she had kept for sentimental reasons. Chuck got out the book and sure enough it said that you were supposed to boil bottles. The trouble was that it was difficult to read after drinking all that beer. Now there were two ways to do it, boil the empty bottles and equipment for five minutes, or the bottles with the formula in it for 20 minutes. Well, he missed that part, so the three stooges plus one had tossed everything into a pot, covered it with a bit of water and boiled away happily content that they were protecting Walter Fox against any sort of nastiness microscopic critters. 

The old bachelor pad was never going to be the same he thought. He and Meg had decided to stay in the apartment for now. Meg had said she wanted to be a city mom this time around. The house in the suburbs was for sale and they had a contract on a place two blocks from where Dana and Fox lived, but they couldn't finalize the deal until the other owner had found a place to live in the city where they were being transferred. That was okay. Meg wasn't ready for a big move anyway. For a time the apartment was fine. Once they were in the house, they would sell or rent out the coop provided that they could get the smell of burnt rubber out of it that is. There was nothing like the smell of nipples melted onto the bottom of Meg's favorite pot to add ambiance to a home. Meanwhile, the small place had become a miniature version of a baby superstore. He had insisted that she decorate the den as a nursery. Dana had offered to give back the old rocking chair, but Meg had refused saying that although she loved it dearly, that had been for Bill's babies and grandbabies. Walter had taken her out immediately insisted that she pick out any nursery furniture she wanted including a rocker. For a moment Skinner's mind wandered to Annie. How happy she would have been if this had been her. Of course, knowing Annie, she would be happy for him now. She and Margaret were very different in many ways, and yet he realized how fortunate he was to have been so well loved by two good women. 

Skinner took the blue diaper bag that Melissa had packed with all the essentials for baby pick up, grabbed the car seat and headed out the door. He wondered what she had put in it. A New Age pacifier maybe. Did they make those kind of things? A few packs of unmelted nipples would have been nice, but his luck didn't run that way. He had been a little surprised when Chuck had given the gift to him from Missy so he wouldn't have anything to worry about packing. He suspected the gesture was really for her mother and not an act of kindness toward him. He had still been unable to reach Melissa. By comparison, even Scully at her worst was the voice of reason. It was still early but he decided that it was okay. He would spend the day with Meg and the baby, even the hospital part of the day. Aunt Sophia was coming the next day when he had to go back to work, but he wanted as much play time as possible. Now there was a weird one that Aunt Sophia, but Meg, Fox and Dana all adored her. Yeah, sometimes retirement sounded good. Then he could spoil his child all the time. Hmm... his wife probably wouldn't appreciate it though.

Locking the apartment, he headed out for Meg's old station wagon. It had 100,000 miles on it, but she had refused to trade it in. She had informed him, arms crossed across her chest, that the little sports car he had brought home one day simply was not going to cut it with a baby on the way... muttered about men going through mid-life crisis and about how foolish she had been to let him go to an auto showroom with Fox, and offered up a very audible prayer of thanksgiving that the damned thing hadn't been fire engine red.

* * *

Walter stepped in the door of the hospital room and stood stock still, a plethora of emotions going through him. Meg was sitting up in the bed with her infant in her arms stroking his tiny head with one hand and cooing at him as nursed hungrily. The sight was beautiful, his wife, his child nursing at her breast, but then he was assailed by a fit of anger. She had agreed to bottle feed for health reasons. She had promised. Hadn't he had enough worry? He inhaled and made an effort to control his temper.

Entering the room, Walter sat in the chair by her. She looked up at him and realizing who it was, she gave him a beautiful smile. It lit her entire face. She looked tired, but her color was much improved.

"Hello, Walter..." She smiled at him, the kind that lit her face.

"What the hell are you doing Margaret?" he burst out. Jeez... he hadn't meant it to come out sounding like that.

"I'm nursing the baby," she replied defensively grateful that she had gotten over the crying phase the day before. His tone had been unpleasant.

"But you weren't supposed to do that... what about your health? What about what we agreed..." This time he tempered his words with gentleness seeing the hurt on her face.

The infant had stopped nursing so she detached him and covered herself. Handing him to his father, she said quietly, "He wants to be burped."

"Okay..." he replied putting the baby on his shoulder and patting his tiny back. "Meg... you promised..."

"Walter," she said quietly, "last night after you left, my milk came in with such force I couldn't stand the pain and I... well... I'm feeling okay...."

"But still...." He didn't want her to suffer but he was unconvinced. Besides, he had wanted to help with the feeding. "Uncle Squirt" had been a long time in coming, and he wanted to be a part of his son's life, a real part.

Margaret reached out and put a hand on his knee gently. She knew he hadn't meant to snap at her. He was genuinely worried. The child let out an incredible burp and started fussing to be fed again. This time she put him to her other breast. He latched on and began to suck greedily.

"It's like driving a car..." she chuckled..."You never forget how...."

He found himself smiling in spite of his annoyance. "He's a greedy little bugger isn't he?"

"The boys usually are..." she laughed. "It's the girls that are a finicky nuisance." They were silent for a long moment.

"Walt, trust my instincts on this... okay? If there are any problems, I'll switch to bottle feeding as quickly as we can comfortably do so. We'll make sure that YOU give him one bottle of formula every night just so he's used to it.... okay... but this is better for the baby."

He was still worried and didn't say anything for a long moment.

"I let you and that crazy son of mine talk me into the c-section," she reminded him. 

"Okay," said Walter quietly finally giving in. He had to trust her judgement. The squirt stopped nursing and started to fuss just as the nurse came in and announced that Margaret had been officially released and could go home. Suddenly, Uncle Squirt let out a terrible noise. Margaret handed him to her husband with a wicked grin.

"He's all yours, Daddy. Clean him up and get him dressed. I'm going to find my shoes and enjoy myself while you figure out how to get him into that car seat because between you me and the wall, I may never bend over again...."


End file.
